Brandon Bussi and Kyle Keyser celebrate Sunday’s win over Hartford. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)
The Providence Bruins wrapped up the regular season by winning two out of three games over the weekend.
They started by beating the Springfield Thunderbirds, 4-2, at home on Friday night. That victory clinched second place in the Atlantic Division and a first-round bye. In Bridgeport on Saturday, the P-Bruins lost, 4-1, to the Islanders. Back home on Friday. Providence scored twice in the third period on the way to a 4-2 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack.
“I’m real proud of the guys. You look back at the year and their growth was exceptional in a lot of our guys. A game like today to end the season, with back to back three in threes, to play that hard at the end says a ton. They’re not easy,” said coach Ryan Mougenel after Sunday’s game.
“It’s a grind as a coach, I can’t imagine it as a player. It says a lot about the group. It says a lot about some of our young kids. It’s tough to fight through. Arguably, our older guys were some of the best players today. That speaks volumes.”
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— After going 1-3-1-1 in October, Providence finished the regular season with a record of 42-21-6-3. They ended up second in the Atlantic Division, earning a bye in the opening round of the playoffs. They were fourth in the AHL with 93 points and fourth in points percentage at .646.
— Georgii Merkulov scored two goals and an assist on Friday and two goals on Sunday. He finished the regular season with 30-35-65 in 67 games, a 10-point improvement over last season. He was fifth in the AHL in points. Only five players scored more goals. He is the first P-Bruin to hit the 30-goal mark since Frank Vatrano did it in 2015-16.
— Jayson Megna had a goal and an assist on Friday and three assists on Sunday. With 15 points in his last 10 games, he finished second on the team with 19-37-56 in 69 games, his best offensive season in the AHL. He was voted team MVP by his teammates.
— Anthony Richard recorded three assists on Friday and one on Sunday. He finished third on the team with 25-30-55 in 59 games.
— Patrick Brown scored a goal on Friday and recorded assists on Saturday and on the game-winning goal on Sunday. He has points in five straight games.
— With Providence nursing a one-goal lead on Sunday, Kyle Keyser made a terrific kick save on Alex Belzile with 3:28 left. Keyser stopped all nine shots he faced after taking over in net for the third period.
— Alec Regula’s plus-36 was the best in the AHL. He was presented with the Best Defenseman Award on Sunday. Dan Renouf, Regula’s partner, was second in the league with plus 34.
— In his first game on a tryout contract, former Boston University center Nick Zabaneh scored the game-winning goal with 8:49 left in Sunday’s game.
— Riley Duran potted the GWG on a rebound Friday night against Springfield after Patrick Brown won an offensive zone faceoff and Dan Renouf fired a shot from the point.
— Trevor Kuntar snapped a streak of 16 straight games without a goal when he scored on Sunday. And it was a beauty, as he beat a Hartford defenseman and tucked the puck into the net for his 10th goal of the year.
— Providence went 22-9-2-1 against the other New England teams. They were 9-3 vs. Bridgeport; 8-3-1-0 with Springfield; and 5-3-1-1 against Hartford.
— The P-Bruins led the AHL with 15 shorthanded goals.
— Attendance on Sunday was 9,643. Providence finished sixth in the AHL with an average crowd of 7,713. That’s 68.42 percent of capacity.
BAD
— The power play is in a 0 for 16 slump.
— Hard to believe Hartford’s Nic Petan wasn’t called for a penalty after he hacked Anthony Richard’s arm as Richard broke in on the Hartford net in the third period. Richard easily could have been injured on the play and it’s no surprise that he went after Petan seconds later and both players drew roughing penalties.
— John Farinacci has gone 20 games without a goal.
— The P-Bruins finished 28th in the league on the power play at home at 15.1 percent.
— They were 30th in the AHL on the penalty kill on the road at 75.9 percent. Bridgeport scored two power-play goals on three opportunities on Saturday.
UGLY
— Injured: Alec Regula, Fabian Lysell, Joey Abate