With the P-Bruins trailing 3-0 in their second-round series with the Penguins, things got a little out of hand in front of Penguins goalie Brad Thiessen. At 14:37, a Providence player fell into Thiessen and that set off just about everyone on the ice. The two teams paired up and started to scrap all over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton zone. When it was all said and done, 52 penalty minutes were handed out for the altercation.

Just a couple of minutes later, as the Penguins scored to make it 4-0, Providence goalie Niklas Svedberg slashed Paul Thompson in front of the Providence net, and that led to another brouhaha.

Game 6 is slated for Monday in Providence.

See all of the pugilistic action in the video below (starting at 6:45) with a stick tap to Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog.

The Boston Bruins announced Friday that defenseman Matt Bartkowski has been assigned to Providence. This comes after Bartkowski appeared in 11 games with the big club after being called up earlier in the season.

Bartkowski actually looked pretty good during his time in Boston. The 24-year-old has made some impressive strides since a brief stint in the NHL last season and in 2010-11, and he was getting a decent amount of ice time in this third go-around. He was averaging more 13 minutes per game with a pair of assists.

Bartkowski will now return to Providence, where he skated in 56 games before being called up. He had 3-21-24 totals in those games.

Providence begins its first-round series with Hershey on Friday night.

The boys down on the farm — the AHL squads — are also finding their share of success this season. That’s something that hasn’t always been the case in the past, either.

Both the Providence Bruins and the Springfield Falcons clinched postseason berths over the weekend, something that’s been a rarity for both in past years.

Providence clinched its first postseason berth since 2009 on Friday when the P-Bruins defeated the Albany Devils in Albany. The Baby B’s also seem poised to wrap up the Atlantic Division title soon, as they enter Monday holding a 12-point lead over the Portland Pirates.

On the same night Providence made the playoffs, Springfield clinched its first postseason appearance since 2003, although they did so with a loss. A day later, the Falcons wrapped up their first division title since the 1997-98 season when they beat the Portland Pirates 4-2 in Portland.

The Bruins (93 points) and Falcons (91 points) will now wrestle for the top seed in the Eastern Conference and all of the AHL. Providence holds the two-point edge over Springfield, as both look to hold off No. 3 Syracuse. The Texas Stars lead the Western Conference with 91 points.

Portland enters this week’s slate in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, while the Connecticut Whale currently sit No. 7, where they could be on a collision course for a first-round matchup with nearby Springfield.

The young blue liner was called up recently on an emergency basis to replace the injured Johnny Boychuk in the Boston, and on Tuesday, Bartkowski was given a contract extension. The club announced Tuesday morning that it had signed the 24-year-old to a one-year, one-way contract extension through next season. That deal is worth $650,000.

Bartkowski, who was a seventh-round draft pick of the Florida Panthers in 2008, made his NHL debut with the Bruins during the 2010-11 season. He’s yet to record a point in 11 NHL games. He had registered 3-21-24 totals with Providence in the AHL before being called up.

The Bruins also announced they came to terms with Minnesota-Duluth defenseman Chris Casto on an entry-level contract.

Casto just finished his season with UMD where he had 3-3-6 totals. He stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 210 pounds, and he also got into 58 games with USHL’s Lincoln Stars where he scored six goals and added 19 assists.

According to a team statement, Jordan Caron has been recalled to the Bruins’ NHL squad, while Chris Bourque has cleared waivers and will be joining the AHL’s Providence Bruins. Caron skated with the Bruins at Ristuccia Arena during practice Friday.

Bourque was waived by the B’s on Thursday after posting 1-3-4 totals and a minus-6 rating in 18 games played.

Caron had a cup of coffee in the NHL last season, totaling seven goals and eight assists in 48 games played. The team’s first-round pick in the 2009 draft, the 22-year-old has 10 goals and five assists through 48 games with the P-Bruins this year.

It’s “Hockey Weekend Across America,” and Bruins fans are joining in on the fun all across the country.

Jumping on the bandwagon for USA Hockey’s premier event, hockey fans wore their favorite hockey jerseys on Friday to get excited for a weekend’s worth of activities. From cats to monster trucks and everything in between, New England was fired up for any excuse to show their team pride.

NESN Nation’s Dan Duquette found some of the best ones out there — see for yourself in the above video.

Join NESN Nation: In-game home page | Twitter | Facebook

Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@taylforrealzies

The P-Bruins became the latest professional sports team to join in the effort to end homophobia in sports, an effort that is being led by the You Can Play Project. The ongoing project, created by Philadelphia Flyers scout Chris Burke (son of former Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke), was built to honor the memory of Chris’ brother, Brendan.

Brendan, who was openly gay and worked to end homophobia in sports, passed away in 2010 and the organization was started to continue his efforts. The You Can Play Project has received support across the sports world, particularly in hockey where notable NHL players like Zdeno Chara and Henrik Lundqvist have lent their support.

The P-Bruins are the latest to do so, taking a pledge to rid their team of homophobia as part of the ongoing mission.

See a video of them taking the pledge below.

NESN will be live at the Dunkin Donuts Center with all the action, with the game itself capping off four days of festivities beginning on the 25th. So while the Bruins will be live on NESN the evening of the 28th, you’ll also have the option of switching over to NESNPlus to watch the NHL’s next crop of stars before they hit the big time.

Check out the grid below for a complete list of television providers and corresponding channels to see how you can catch the AHL All-Star Game on NESNPlus.

Channel listings subject to change.

Perhaps no member of the Baby B’s stood out more than journeyman forward Bobby Robins. The 31-year-old Wisconsin native showed no fear going against the NHL club, pushing and shoving every chance he got. At one point he caught the attention of both Zdeno Chara and Shawn Thornton in a post-whistle scrum.

Things came to a head in the third period when Robins and Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid dropped the gloves at one of the blue lines and went toe-to-toe, with Robins getting the best of one of Boston’s best brawlers.

That’s nothing new for Robins who has made a (likely modest) living as a journeyman AHL tough guy. Just take a look at his HockeyFights.com page, and you’ll see he’s been around the block a few times, although he’s probably needed a few ice packs to do so.

But what some hockey fans might not know is that Robins follows hockey’s tough guy code in more ways than on the ice. Often times, enforcers are some of the team’s smarter and kinder human beings away from the ice. Look no further than Thornton in Boston for proof of that.

Robins is the same way. He’s an active Twitter user who will offer inspiring and motivational tweets on a daily basis. He also keeps a blog, which is filled with some pretty insightful and powerful posts.

None were more powerful, however, than Robins’ most recent post.

Robins was among a small group of P-Bruins who visited Children’s Hospital last week. It’s a fairly normal thing for pro athletes to do, and it’s clear that Robins was inspired by his trip.

He wrote about it on his blog, sharing the story of meeting Logan, a 2-year-old patient who was in the middle of enduring a rough day.

Robins details his interactions with Logan, talking about how he was able to get the youngster to come out of his shell. Robins signed autographs for Logan and even drew some pictures. Eventually Logan returned the favor, drawing some pictures of his own.

“And so we all watched as Logan drew his own pictures, and for that moment, for those 20 minutes, that kid wasn’t sick in bed, in a children’s hospital,” Robins wrote. “He was somewhere else, and so was I. We connected on a level that isn’t measured or documented.

“We went somewhere else, far away from that place, far away from needles and doctors and beeping machines, and entered the canvas realm, where anything is possible, and diseases are cured and conquered with the stroke of a paint brush, where colorful horizons and bright futures are the only thing we know. Shouldn’t we all live in this world? Logan showed me this place, and I am changed because of it.”

Robins eventually left, but not without taking a couple of Logan’s drawings to place in his office as “good luck charms.”

Robins says it was an eye-opening experience for him, one that helped him look at things a little differently.

“Of course I understand the position I am in as a professional athlete and the impact I can make on kid’s lives,” he continued. “It is an honor to have that power, and I try to represent and harness it as best as I can. But there is something more to it, it’s not just because I play hockey and swat a puck around and punch people in the face. It’s something that everyone has and something everyone can do. “

Just removing a couple snippets of the blog post doesn’t do it justice. It’s well-written, poignant and touching, really. Do yourself a favor and read the entire post by clicking here.

Thumbnail photo via Facebook/Providence Bruins

Jordan Caron isn’t the flashiest hockey player, but he has NHL dreams all the same.

The 22-year-old is resigned to the fact that he won’t out-skate every single opponent, and he’ll rarely throw a sick deke to leave a goaltender completely off-guard. However, what Caron does do well is grind out shifts and use his physicality as a defense-first forward — just the kind of player that Bruins coach Claude Julien likes.

Right now Caron toils in Providence awaiting the end of the NHL lockout and his chance to prove he belongs with the big team permanently. Check out the story of the Bruins’ 2009 first-round draft pick in the video above.

On Wednesday, Chris Bourque, David Warsofsky, Matt Bartkowski, Torey Krug, Colby Cohen and other members of the Providence Bruins were invited to the Rhode Island Air National Guard base in Quonset to get their hands on some weapons, strap on some cool warfare gear and look like all around bad-ass members of the United States’ armed forces.

Check out the photos below, which were posted on the team’s Twitter account.

We’re at the RI Air National Guard base in Quonset, RI. @davewarsofsky5 in a gas mask. #pbruins instagr.am/p/SBe_46JEVb/
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) November 14, 2012

Much heavier than Torey’s hockey equipment. #pbruins instagr.am/p/SBfoLhpEV8/ — Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) November 14, 2012

Chris Bourque checking out the night vision. #pbruins #quonset instagr.am/p/SBf5oRJEWL/ — Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) November 14, 2012

Colby Cohen, sharp shooter.#pbruins #quonset #riang instagr.am/p/SBhWhAJEXb/
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) November 14, 2012

Ready for battle. #Hutchinson #robins #pbruins #quonset #rianginstagr.am/p/SBhrvnJEXq/ fb.me/1ptsjCSNX
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) November 14, 2012

Following the example that Zdeno Chara, Adam MacQuaid and Brad Marchand set last year with Jordan Caron, the P-Bruins visited patients at the Boston Children's Hospital on Halloween to enjoy some holiday festivities.

A crew consisting of Caron, Lane MacDermid, Max Sauve, Chris Bourque, Ryan Spooner,
Torey Krug, Jared Knight, David Warsofsky, Matt Bartkowski and Ryan
Button joined in the fun on Wednesday, going door-to-door not in search of candy, but for smiles.

Just as the Red Sox did at Fenway Park during their Halloween celebrations, the Bruins found quite a few.

Click here to see the P-Bruins in costume at the Children's Hospital >>

The Providence Bruins will kick off their season on Friday against the Manchester Monarchs, the AHL affiliate of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara won't be suiting up in Rhode Island, but several future pieces of the big club will be doing so.

Ryan Spooner, who the Bruins took in the second round of the 2010 NHL draft, played for the Kingston Frontenacs and the Sarnia Sting, both of the OHL, as well as Providence last season. In 62 combined games, Spooner scored 30 goals, racked up 40 assists and totaled 70 points. Spooner appeared in just three games with the Bruins in 2010-11, but did score twice during that span.

Jared Knight is another second-round pick from the Bruins' 2010 draft class, playing all of last season with the London Knights of the OHL. He averaged one point per game in 52 games with the Knights, scoring 26 times and registering 26 assists. Knight had two assists in three games with Providence in 2010-11.

Chris Bourque, the son of Bruins legend Ray Bourque, was traded to Boston in May after completing a career year with the Hershey Bears. In 73 games with the Bears, he scored 27 goals and had 66 assists to lead the league with a 93 total points, a career-high. He has totaled at least 70 points in each of the last three seasons with Hershey.

Jordan Caron should be a familiar name to Bruins fans, as he's spent some time with Boston over the last two seasons. Last season, Caron played in 48 games with the B's, scoring seven times and tallying eight assists for 15 points. A year earlier, he played in 23 games with the club, totaling seven points. 

With these four players primed to make an impact in Providence this season, who are you most excited to watch develop into a future NHLer?

Which Bruins player are you most excited to watch develop in Providence this season?

Hamilton will head back to the Niagara IceDogs, with whom he's played the last three seasons, while 2012 first-round pick Malcolm Subban will head to his respective OHL team (Belleville Bulls).

Hamilton expects to join Bruins training camp from his Niagara team once the NHL lockout is over, CSNNE.com reports, and the 19-year-old defenseman could see a good chunk of playing time with the big club.

Additionally, the Bruins assigned a number of players to their AHL affiliate in Providence. Those players include: Matt Bartkowski, Ryan Button, Carter Camper, Jordan Caron, Colby Cohen, Tommy Cross, Craig Cunningham, Justin Florek, Michael Hutchinson, Jared Knight, Torey Krug, Kevan Miller, Adam Morrison, Tyler Randell, Max Sauve, Ryan Spooner, Niklas Svedberg, Zach Trotman and David Warsofsky.

The team also announced that Garnet Exelby, Christian Hanson, Jamie Tardif and Trent Whitfield have cleared waivers and will head to Providence as well.

Thumbnail photo via Facebook/Dougie Hamilton

“Our management staff is very proud of this achievement as it reflects upon the hard work of our entire front office staff, and speaks to the great partnerships we have with the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority, Dunkin Donuts Center senior management and the Boston Bruins.” said Jeff Fear, CEO of the Providence Bruins. “Each season we maintain our focus on our core business principals: providing lasting fan experiences for our customers, high value and brand support for our corporate sponsors and being a good corporate citizen in the community.”

The P-Bruins ranked fourth in the AHL in attendance in 2011-12 and have finished in the league’s top 10 in attendance every year since joining the league in 1992.

P-Bruins players appeared at several community events during the season, and their visits benefitted organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Special Olympics, Rhode Island Blood Center and Rhode Island Community Foodbank.

The team raised over $10,000 for the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation thanks to its annual Pink In The Rink Night, and raised an additional $10,000 during Hasbro Children’s Hospital Weekend in April.

The P-Bruins were also a major figure in the corporate community, drawing support from over 1,000 Providence-area businesses who supported the organization through sponsorships, business group outings and community outreach programs.

It’s clear that the lessons Bruins prospects are learning in Providence extend beyond the ice.

Thumbnail photo via Facebook/Providence Bruins

Black Aces is the term for the extra players teams traditionally call up during the playoffs to give the big club options to fill in if needed and extra bodies for practice when the veterans could use some rest. In turn, the young players get acclimated to NHL life and gain valuable experience with first-hand exposure to the intensity of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The 10 players will actually physically remain in Providence for now, practicing on their own. But they are eligible to play for Boston if injuries create the need and will join the main roster for practices as the playoff run continues.

Of the 10 players added, six were recalled during the season with Camper, Hennessy, MacDermid, Sauve and Whitfield all appearing in games with the big club, while Bodnarchuk was up for seven games in February but did not dress.

For Cunningham, Spooner, Miller and Warsofsky, this will be their first exposure to NHL life outside of training camp and exhibition games in the preseason.

Carter finished his first pro season leading Providence in scoring with 18-30-48 totals, while Cunningham had a team-high 20 goals in his first full season in the pro ranks. Hennessy finished second on the team with 19-22-41 totals.

Spooner is one of the organization's top prospects. He joined Providence at the completion of his junior campaign for the second straight season and had 1-3-4 totals in five games with Providence after putting up 29-37-66 totals in 57 games split between Kingston and Sarnia in the Ontario Hockey League.

Of note were some of the players not recalled, most due to injury issues. Forward Zach Hamill, who played 16 games in Boston before being sent down in early February, suffered a shoulder injury March 18 against Springfield, while defenseman Matt Bartkowski, who opened the season with the big club, is out with a knee injury and goalie Michael Hutchinson, who backed up Tim Thomas for a pair of games before Marty Turco was signed to replace the injured Tuukka Rask late in the regular season, needs hip surgery himself.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.

The bruising 6-foot-3, 205-pound brawler has four goals and 11 assists — and 115 penalty minutes — in 65 games.

MacDermid, drafted in the fourth round by the B's in 2009, has appeared in five games and recorded five penalty minutes for the Bruins already this year.

The B's recalled forward Trent Whitfield, assigned forward Max Sauve to Providence and traded defenseman Yury Alexandrov to the Islanders for future considerations.

Whitfield is expected to join the team on Wednesday prior to its three-game West Coast swing, which kicks off on Thursday in San Jose.

The 34-year-old Whitfield has appeared in one game with the Bruins this season (March 13 versus Tampa Bay), and has 7-7-14 totals in 43 games down in Providence. He appeared in 16 games with the big club during the 2009-10 season.

Sauve was recalled to Boston on an emergency basis on March 10 and made his NHL debut against the Penguins on March 11.

Alexandrov, meanwhile, has played in 37 KHL games this season after skating in 66 games with Providence last season. The 23-year-old native of Cherepovets, Russia was originally drafted by the Bruins in the second round (37th overall) of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

General manager Peter Chiarelli announced on Tuesday that the club has assigned MacDermid to its AHL affiliate in Providence.

MacDermid was recalled on an emergency basis by the Bruins on March 3, and played in five games with Boston. In those five contests, the gritty forward averaged 8:54 of ice time per game, while showing a willingness to play physical and disciplined hockey.

MacDermid kept the team's "Merlot Line" clicking, and even dropped the gloves with Rangers tough guy Mike Rupp in his NHL debut on March 4.

Daniel Paille's return to the lineup on Tuesday ultimately led to MacDermid getting sent down, but with injuries still a concern for the B's, we may not have seen the last of the youngster this season.

But Julien was pretty certain that the Bruins would not be carrying three goaltenders for long now that Turco had cleared waivers and joined the club.

That proved accurate as rookie Michael Hutchinson was returned to Providence Wednesday evening. Hutchinson dressed for two games after being recalled following Tuukka Rask's groin injury on Saturday, but did not appear in either game while backing up Tim Thomas.

Turco will now serve as Thomas' backup and is expected to dress for the first time as a Bruin Thursday against Buffalo, though his first action will likely not come until he's had a little longer to re-acclimate himself to NHL action after most recently playing in Austria.

The Bruins also recalled forward Max Sauve from Providence on an emergency basis Wednesday night. He will be on hand in case Benoit Pouliot is unable to play Thursday.

Pouliot left Tuesday's win in Toronto early in the second period and did not return. He did not practice Wednesday and has been listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.

With Daniel Paille (upper body), Nathan Horton (concussion) and Rich Peverley (knee) already sidelined, the Bruins had just 11 healthy forwards available for practice, and will need Sauve to play just to have a full complement of 12 forwards if Pouliot cannot go against the Sabres.

Sauve has been recalled three times in the last two weeks but has yet to make his NHL debut. He has 7-10-17 totals in 29 games with Providence this season.

Pouliot's injury comes at a bad time for the streaky forward. In addition to how shorthanded the Bruins are up front, he was also just breaking out of a long slump. After going eight games without a point and managing just one point in 17 games, Pouliot scored a goal Sunday against the Rangers and added two assists in just 4:50 of ice time Tuesday before departing. He had formed an effective third line with Chris Kelly and Jordan Caron, giving the Bruins a much-needed offensive spark in the last two games.

Have a question for Douglas Flynn? Send it to him via Twitter at @douglasflynn or send it here. He will pick a few questions to answer every week for his mailbag.