LEACH

PROVIDENCE — Coaches don’t like to use excuses after a loss.

Neither do players.

But there were three major factors that contributed to Hartford’s 5-2 victory over Providence in the third game of the Atlantic Division semifinals — the absence of P-Bruins All-Star defenseman Matt Lashoff (shoulder), and defenders Mark Stuart (leg) and Nate Dempsey.

“Those guys have been a big part of our power play and our penalty-kill, so without them it does hurt. But that’s part of the business,” Providence defenseman Jay Leach said. “It happens all the time. It’s also an opportunity for maybe some other guys to step up and take on a different kind of role. But hopefully they’ll be back and we’ll reap the rewards of them coming back.”

Lashoff tallied 37 points in 64 games this season. Dempsey recorded 21 points in 46 games. Stuart amassed 20 points in 49 games.

“Matt Lashoff is our top defensive guy,” Providence coach Scott Gordon said. “[Stuart] is one of our top defensive guys. Without them we have eliminated two guys that play on our power play and players like that don’t just grow on trees. You can’t just pick up the phone, call somebody, and bring them in. … We are just hoping that somebody can come up big for us on the offensive end of it and Sean Curry has, so that has been huge.”

Gordon hopes that at least one of those players will return to action tonight (7 o’clock) for Game Four of the series.

“All of them are real close,” Gordon said.

Offensively, Providence is being led by a pair of rookies this postseason — David Krejci and Sean Bentivoglio.

Krejci, Providence’s team rookie of the year who scored 31 goals with 43 assists during the regular season, has five assists so far in the playoffs. Bentivoglio scored a goal in each of the first two games and assisted on a goal in Game Three.

The P-Bruins need big performances from them, along with center Nate Thompson, right wing Nate DiCasmirro, and left wing Dennis Packard, in order to keep pace with the hungry and talented Wolf Pack.

It all begins with forechecking, Gordon said. In order for Providence to establish its forecheck, Gordon said, it has to come out of its defensive zone clean, get the puck into the offensive zone, and when it gets into the offensive zone, Providence has to make it hard for Hartford to steal the puck.

“When we’ve played well in this series, that’s what we’ve done, starting from our end all the way into their end,” Gordon said. “When they’ve been able to get out of their zone clean, that’s usually when they’ve been able to establish their forechecking. You have to make it as hard as possible for the other team to get into your zone so that they can’t establish that pressure.”

Providence’s defenders will have the tough task of trying to shut down Hartford’s top line of Nigel Dawes, Alex Bourrett, and Jarkko Immonen.

Dawes and Bourrett lead the Wolf Pack in postseason scoring with eight points each. Immonen has two goals and assisted on two others.

“Obviously the forecheck is huge for us,” Leach said. “We’ve got to shut down their front line in order to win this series. They’ve been a critical part to their success. We’ve got to know when Dawes, Bourret and Immonen are out on the ice and try to contain them as best we can.”

A victory tonight would be huge for the P-Bruins because it will even the series at 2-2. A loss would leave Providence with a 3-1 deficit.

“You get to make three mistakes in the series,” Gordon said. “For the guys that have gone to college, they know that it’s one game at a time, and if you approach it with the mindset that you are going to be eliminated after every game, usually you are going to play a little bit harder.”

“This game is very critical,” Leach said. “If they win this, they are up 3-1, and that’s a pretty healthy lead. Obviously, you never like to think that way. It’s one game at a time, but we have two games left here in Providence and this is as big as they come. If we get this game, it’s all even.”

roblee@projo.com