The Bridgeport Islanders, in what has been a rollercoaster of a season, will face the Providence Bruins in the first round of the Calder Cup playoffs. It’s the tenth time in franchise history the team has reached the postseason.

These are two teams that have never met in the postseason, though Bridgeport had the upper hand against the Bruins this season (6-4-2).

“We are definitely the underdogs and our guys are embracing that role,” head coach Brent Thompson said during a pre-playoffs press conference. “We feel as a group here that we are just as good as any team and on any given night we’re going to win.”

The Matchup

The Islanders will have to watch out for Providence’s leading scorers Cameron Hughes and Steven Fogarty.

“They play hard, especially in their building,” Bridgeport forward Chris Terry said. “Up front, they have a lot of skill on their top two lines. Their power play is pretty lethal. We’ll have our hands full but I feel like we’ve played them well the second half of the year so we’ll draw off of those games.”

Terry was Bridgeport’s first 30-goal scorer since Trevor Smith back in 2008-09.

The Islanders have a good mix of veterans with Andy Andreoff, Austin Czarnik, Terry, Michael Dal Colle and Seth Helgeson. In goal, it will be interesting to see who Thompson chooses. Will he put the veteran Cory Schnieder (14-11-6, 2.71 GAA, .921 SV%) in goal, or go with Jakub Skarek (16-15-5, 3.30 GAA, .896 SV%)? The latter enjoyed a breakout season, but couldn’t match his counterpart’s records or statistics. In goal for Providence will be AHL All-Star Second Team member Troy Grosenick. He had a stellar season for the P-Bruins.

Bridgeport will also have top prospect Aatu Raty in the lineup. In his two games so far, the team likes what they see.

“He’s got a lot of skill and he’s done a lot in his career so we’re excited to have him,” Czarnik said.

Bridgeport will look to shock the Bruins, as Bridgeport is the sixth seed in the expanded playoffs, while Providence is the third seed in the Atlantic Division. However, the Islanders have not won a playoff series in 19 years, dating back to the 2003 first round when the Sound Tigers beat the Manchester Monarchs before losing to the Binghamton Senators and losing their next nine series.

The Islanders will play Game 1 on Monday in Providence and Game 2 is Wednesday in Bridgeport. If necessary, Game 3 is Friday. You can watch all the games on AHLtv.com.

For the Islanders to win the series, they will have to get a lot of shots in on Grosenick and protect the back end with whoever Thompson decides to put in goal.

Christian Gardecki

A Native of Danbury, CT. Christian is one of the longest tenured Drive4Five writers, Christian Gardecki began writing for Drive4five In May of 2017. Christian covers Minor League Hockey and the Bridgeport Islanders for Drive4Five. Outside of Drive4Five, Christian was the captain of his High School Hockey team and currently attends Hofstra University with a major in journalism. Christian was the play by play broadcaster for the Danbury Westerners summer collegiate baseball team during their 2021 NECBL Championship. Christian also was the Public Address Announcer for the Danbury Hat Tricks Minor Pro Hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League and NAHL Junior team from 2019-21.