Joonas Kempainnen’s first stint in North American Professional Hockey has been, to say the least, challenging. After nine seasons in the Finnish Elite League in which he scored 62 goals, 98 assists in 464 games, the Bruins signed Kemppainen to a one-year, two-way contract this past May.

Having made the team right out of training camp, Kempainnen found himself mainly on the fourth line with a roulette of players, including Max Talbot, Tyler Randell and Zac Rinaldo among others, Kemppainen could only muster 2-3-5 totals with a minus-6 rating in 44 games with Boston. There was also a visit to the IR back in December.

With the addition of Lee Stempniak at the trade deadline, Kempainnen was optioned to Providence on February 29 along with Rinaldo and Talbot.

For Kemppainen, a stop in the AHL could be just what he needs in order to work on his North American game.

“There’s more open space and the ice is smaller [over here],” Kemppainen said of the differences between the North American and European styles of hockey, “The game is more like a north-south game and in Europe you control the puck so the pace of the game is not that fast.”

Over the course of his second tour with the P-Bruins this season (he was first sent down on February 5 and recalled a week later, playing three games), Kemppainen has a goal and four assists in six games. Two of those assists were on Brian Ferlin’s game-tying and game-winning goals in last Saturday’s huge 3-2 overtime win over the league-leading Toronto Marlies.

In overtime, it was Kemppainen’s strong play to gain possession of the puck along the boards that eventually led to Ferlin’s second of the night. Kemppainen, however, refuses to take any credit for the huge goal.

“I tried to beat their guy when the puck was there and Brian Ferlin had a nice [goal] so I give all the credit to him,” Kemppainen said after the win.

Coming over to a new continent and adjusting to their game against the best players in the world can shake a player’s confidence. That is something Kemppainen is looking to regain while in Providence.

“I need to get some confidence back,” noted Kemppainen. “I feel really good playing [down here] and I think we have a really good team.”

“He’s good in the face-off circle,” Coach Bruce Cassidy said on Kemppainen, who has centered the first lines for Providence in each of the last three games, “he’s a big man in the middle, so he matches up against bigger bodies. He’s added some offense, he’s starting to make some plays around the net. He played in a top level in Finland for a long time and he’s got the experience so we’re just trying to round out his overall game.”

He may not remind Bruins fans of Carl Soderberg, at least not yet, but it is safe to say that Kemppainen is finding his confidence in Providence after a shaky beginning to his North American career. Under contract for this year only, it will be interesting to see what the Bruins will do with Kemppainen in the off-season, especially if he can make the adjustment to the AHL, and, ultimately, to the NHL.