PROVIDENCE –– Every time the Manchester Monarchs’ potent line of Andrei Loktionov, Oscar Moller and Bud Holloway steps on the ice Sunday afternoon at the Dunk, Providence’s Adam McQuaid and Andrew Bodnarchuk will jump on, too.

In their second season together, McQuaid and Bodnarchuk are emerging as one of the better shutdown defense pairs in the league.

“They’re out there against every team’s top line, and they’re both plus players,” said coach Rob Murray, which means that they have been on the ice for more goals by the P-Bruins than goals by the opposition, not counting power plays.

“You look at our stats, we don’t have many plus players. That tells you a lot (about McQuaid and Bodnarchuk,)” said Murray.

Entering Saturday night’s game, McQuaid’s plus-8 and Bodnarchuk’s plus-6 were the best on the team. The only other plus players are Trent Whitfield and Brad Marchand, who just returned after a month on callup to Boston.

“Andrew is playing very well, and Adam, he’s a horse out there for us right now,” said Murray.

The two were never better than during last Sunday’s 5-3 win in Worcester. Bodnarchuk was plus-4 and McQuaid, who had a key shot-block while Worcester was pressing for the tying goal on a late power play, was plus-2.

Friday night against Springfield, McQuaid was plus-3 and Bodnarchuk was plus-2.

“I have good chemistry with McQuaid and he’s playing really good hockey right now,” said Bodnarchuk, 21, who is in his second year in Providence. “That’s rubbing off on me. He’s making me look good at times, and hopefully he can say the same about me.”

“We know our job is to play a defensive role, try and keep the other teams’ top line off the score sheet,” said McQuaid, 23, a third-year pro. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we did have a strong weekend last week.”

McQuaid, who is 6-feet-4, 200 pounds, was acquired from Columbus for a fifth-round draft pick in 2007. Bodnarchuk, who is 5-11, 190 pounds, was Boston’s fifth round draft choice in 2006. While neither projects to be a top-four defenseman in the NHL, both have a chance to make it in a lesser role.

“They complement each other well. You’ve got a big physical defenseman in Adam, and a guy that’s quick on the puck and strong in Andrew,” said Murray.

McQuaid “does what a good defensive defenseman does. He hits, blocks shots. Year by year, he’s getting smarter. He’s taken a leadership role on the team. He’s tough. He fights,” Murray said.

“Andrew is very strong for his size. He’s playing a bit more of a physical game this year, but his best asset is his skating ability, his quickness. He’s starting to think the game better, too. … He’s sitting back a bit more, reading the play and letting the play come to him, and he’s making better plays with the puck.”

A needed lift

The return of Marchand and Whitfield from Boston should give the P-Bruins’ offense a badly needed boost. Entering Saturday night’s game, Providence had scored only 26 goals in 12 games since Marchand, Whitfield and Vladimir Sobotka were called up to Boston. Providence was 4-8 during that span.

Lacouture returns

Dan Lacouture, who spent the 2004-05 season in Providence and 05-06 in Boston, is back with the P-Bruins on a tryout.

Lacouture, 32, split last season between Carolina, Albany and Astana Barys of the KHL.

“He finished last year in Russia and he had a deal to go back there … but they yanked the offer” after Lacouture ran into problems with his visa, Murray said.

“He brings a certain amount of physicality. He’ll fight. He’s fast. Probably his No. 1 thing over the years is he can really skate. It looked like he hasn’t lost a step, watching him this morning in practice. He’s a big body. He’s experienced. There’s a lot of different potential aspects that he can bring. So we’ll see how it pans out,” Murray said.

Lacouture, a 6-2, 210-pound winger, was a teammate of Murray in Hamilton in 1999-2000. Lacouture had a career-high 23 goals in 70 games that season. He has 20-25-45 totals and 348 penalty minutes in 337 NHL games with Edmonton, Pittsburgh, the Rangers, Boston, New Jersey and Carolina.

Still a solid draw

Friday night’s crowd of 8,424 pushed Providence to seventh in average attendance in the 29-team league. The P-Bruins are averaging 5,295. Attendence traditionally picks up as the season goes on. Some other New England teams are struggling at the gate. Lowell, Worcester, Springfield and Hartford are among the league’s worst.

mdivver@projo.com