BOSTON — The Bruins rallied for a 6-3 victory over the New York Islanders in the club's first home preseason game Friday night at TD Garden, but it was still a painful evening for many of the club's young hopefuls.
After the contest, the Bruins trimmed their training camp roster by 14. Ten players were assigned to the team's AHL affiliate in Providence, while four players were returned to their junior teams.
The junior players sent down were the bigger surprises, with forwards Ryan Spooner (Kingston), Jared Knight (London) and Alexander Khoklachev (Windsor) and defenseman Dougie Hamilton (Niagara) all returned to their Ontario Hockey League teams.
Hamilton was Boston's first-round pick (ninth overall) this June, while Khokhlachev was taken in the second round. Both are among the most promising prospects in the system, but neither was expected to compete for a spot on the big club quite yet.
Knight and Spooner being returned this early is a bit more of a surprise, as both stuck around longer in last year's camp. Spooner, in particular, had a very strong camp and was one of the final forwards cut after appearing in several preseason games. This year, they each played just one exhibition game before going back to the OHL.
Knight played Friday night, beginning the game on the top line with David Krejci and Milan Lucic, but Benoit Pouliot moved up to that spot in the third period. Knight hit the post on one scoring bid and had an assist and four hits, but he was also a minus-2 in 18:10.
The players headed down to Providence are defensemen Andrew Bodnarchuk, Ryan Button, Marc Cantin, Nathan McIver and Kevan Miller and forwards Carter Camper, Craig Cunningham, Josh Hennessy, Kirk MacDonald and Jamie Tardif.
With the cuts, the Bruins now have 34 players remaining in camp, with 19 forwards, 11 defensemen and four goalies.
