
After a pair of wins in Charlotte over the weekend, the Providence Bruins finished with an 11-2 record in January.
They beat the Checkers by scores of 4-1 on Saturday and 3-0 on Sunday in a game that was closed to the public because of bad weather in North Carolina.
With seven straight wins, the P-Bruins are in first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference with a record of 32-8-1-0 for 65 points and a .793 points percentage. They are three points ahead of second-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the Atlantic with four games in hand.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— It was a weekend to remember for Georgii Merkulov. With an assist on a goal by Dans Locmelis on Saturday, Merkulov tied Andy Hilbert for the most points in franchise history with 210. He broke the record with a helper on a goal by Victor Soderstrom on Sunday. Locmelis grabbed the keepsake puck out of the Charlotte net for Merkulov after the goal. Merkulov has 84-127-211 in 240 games with the P-Bruins.
— Providence is 25-1 when scoring first. They are 25-0 when leading after two periods and 18-0 when leading after one period.
— They are 16-5 at home and 16-3-1-0 on the road.
— With his goal on Saturday, Locmelis is second on the team with 15 goals as he leaves this week to play for Latvia in the Olympics.
— Riley Tufte scored twice and added an assist in Saturday’s win. He leads the team with 18 goals in 34 games.
— Mike DiPietro was outstanding in stopping 19 of 20 shots on Saturday. When Simon Zajicek apparently reinjured himself and left the game after a period on Sunday, DiPietro stepped in and stopped all 24 shots he faced. He continues to lead the AHL with a .940 save percentage and 1.67 goals-against average.
— Matej Blumel scored twice in Sunday’s win. His first goal was a net-front tip. On the second he kicked the puck to Riley Duran near the blue line and then went to the net and buried a beautiful backhand pass from Duran for the score.
— Stick tap for Mike Callahan for coming to the defense of captain Patrick Brown after Brown took a hit from Charlotte’s MacKenzie Entwhistle in the third period on Sunday.
— After missing several games with an injury, Victor Soderstrom had a productive weekend with an assist on Saturday and a goal and a helper on Sunday.
BAD
— The first four penalties in Saturday’s game went against Providence. When they finally did get a power play 47 minutes into the game, they allowed Charlotte to score a shorthanded goal.
— Six of Providence’s next 13 games are against Bridgeport. No knock on the Islanders, but that’s a lot of games against the same team in a relatively short time.
UGLY
— Injured: Simon Zajicek








