Since a 1-5-1 stretch in mid-December, the Providence Bruins have been one of the hottest teams in the American Hockey League. They’ve gone 10-3-1-1 since then. They were a smoking 8-1-1-1 in January and haven’t lost a game in regulation time since Jan. 5.

Over the weekend, the P-Bruins won their final two games before the AHL All-Star break, coming from two goals down to beat Charlotte, 5-3, on Friday, and erasing a one-goal deficit in the third period to defeat Springfield, 3-2, on Saturday.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

*** The win over Springfield lifted Providence into fourth place, the last playoff slot in the Atlantic Division.

*** With two more victories over the weekend, Zane McIntyre has won eight straight starts and 10 of his last 12.

*** Trent Frederic scored twice and added an assist against Charlotte.

*** Paul Carey undressed Charlotte defenders and the goalie on his pretty shorthanded goal on Friday.

*** Zach Senyshyn scored the game-winner and set up another goal against Springfield.

*** Gemel Smith has been a key addition with 16 points in 17 games. He scored a goal on Friday and had 1-2-3 on Saturday.

*** The P-Bruins outshot Springfield, 23-3, in the second period. At one point in the second period, they worked the puck around the Thunderbirds’ zone for two straight minutes without giving up possession.

*** Jakub Zboril had two assists on Saturday, including a very nice cross-seam pass to Smith for a power–play goal.

*** Jordan Szwarz, Providence’s representative in the All-Star Classic, made a gorgeous pass to Kuhlman for a goal on Friday. He won a couple important defensive zone draws while the P-Bruins were protecting a one-goal lead in the final minutes on Saturday.

*** Jay Leach used his timeout after the P-Bruins fell behind by two early against Charlotte. As Leach noted afterward, the team played two awful shifts coming out of the timeout. But then the tide turned  and Providence rallied to beat the AHL’s top team.

*** Special teams shone. The power play went 3 for 6. The penalty kill went 7 for 7, including 4 for 4 against Springfield’s best-in-the-league PP.

BAD

*** The P-Bruins took two more delay of game penalties for shooting the puck over the glass, one on Friday and another on Saturday.

*** Providence is in for a test next weekend: Two road games against Charlotte.

UGLY

*** Injured: Jeremy Lauzon, Ryan Fitzgerald, Anders Bjork.

The Providence Bruins continue to play well as January winds down. They won twice on the weekend, sandwiched around a shootout loss.  They beat Springfield, 2-1, in a shootout at home on Friday; lost in a shootout in Bridgeport, 4-3, on Saturday; and won 5-2 over Hartford at home on Monday.

“Anytime we get five out of six points with the way the schedule works out in our division is terrific. Obviously we’re a desperate team trying to climb the standings,’’ said coach Jay Leach.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

*** Zane McIntyre was brilliant in the shootout  win against Springfield on Friday, shutting down all six Thunderbirds shooters. He made one of his better saves of the season on Monday, sliding across to stop Hartford’s Ville Meskanen. McIntyre has won his last six starts and eight of his last 10. “The last month he’s given us a chance to win every night, which is all we can ask for,’’ said Leach.

*** Paul Carey had a strong weekend, finishing with a hat trick on four shots on Monday. He had six shots on both Friday and Saturday. Carey made a good pass to Mark McNeill for a power-play goal in Bridgeport.

*** Karson Kuhlman scored a goal on Friday, an assist on Saturday and had 1-1-2 on Monday. He has 13 points in his last 13 games. He had seven shots in Bridgeport.

*** The P-Bruins finished the weekend in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with a winning percentage of .547. They are only a few percentage points behind fourth-place Springfield (.558) and third-place Lehigh Valley (.583). Second-place Bridgeport (.591) is within reach, too. The top four teams in the division make the playoffs.

*** Connor Clifton made a perfect pass to Carey for a goal on Monday, and added an empty-net goal with 1:40 to go.

*** Trent Frederic scored the winner on Friday in Providence’s first shootout of the season.

*** Kyle Cumiskey sent a gorgeous, long-distance breakaway pass to Zach Senyshyn, who finished with a nifty snipe in Bridgeport.

*** With a team-high 14 goals, Jordan Szwarz is on pace for the third straight season of at least 20 goals with the P-Bruins. He played his 400th AHL game on Monday.

*** It’s been a strong January for the P-Bruins. They are 6-1-1-1 for 14 out of 18 points, with two games left.

BAD

*** Up 3-1, the P-Bruins gave up two goals in 2:45 in the opening minutes of the third period and went on to lose in the shootout in Bridgeport. Providence outshot the Sound Tigers, 32-16.

*** They piled up eight shots during a power play in overtime but couldn’t score.

*** Even though Hartford’s John Gilmour lost an edge and fell down on his own while rushing the puck in the third period on Monday, Referee Beaudry Halkidis sent Chris Breen to the box for tripping.

*** Dan Vladar has won just one of his last eight starts.

*** Tanner Pond took a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct on Friday night.

*** On Friday, Providence took yet another delay of game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass.

UGLY 

*** Injured: Ryan Fitzgerald, Jeremy Lauzon. And Anders Bjork is finished for the season after undergoing another shoulder surgery last week. It’s a tough break for the young winger.

It was a very productive weekend for the Providence Bruins as they earned five of six points. They came from two goals down to beat Hartford, 6-3, at home on Friday.  On a late goal, they beat Springfield, 4-3, on the road on Saturday. They grabbed a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Thunderbirds on Sunday.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

*** Peter Cehlarik is on a hot streak with 5-2-7 in his last four games. He had a goal on Friday, two goals and an assist on Saturday and an assist on Sunday.  His pass to Paul Carey for the winning goal in Springfield was a beauty.

*** After being acquired in a trade on Friday, Carey had a goal and an assist in his first game on Saturday, including the game-winner with 61 seconds left.

*** Gemel Smith had a five-point weekend, including three assists on Saturday, one of them a nifty setup for a goal by Trent Frederic on the power play. He has 6-6-12 in 12 games.

*** Zane McIntyre is playing his best hockey of the season. He is 4-0 in his last four starts.

*** Cameron Hughes snapped a 12-game goal-less streak on Sunday.

*** Chris Breen’s shorthanded empty-netter on Friday was his first goal of the season.

*** Karson Kuhlman had a goal and an assist on Saturday. Frederic  had 1-1-2 on Saturday.

*** The P-Bruins roared back from a two-goal deficit on Friday with four straight goals.

*** Zach Senyshyn made a nice play off the rush to set up Anton Blidh’s goal against Hartford.

*** Urho Vaakanainen made a slick pass to set up a Cehlarik power-play goal in Springfield.

*** Dan Vladar’s 38 saves on Sunday was a career high.

*** With 42 points, Providence is one point behind Lehigh Valley, which holds the last playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. They are in much better position than they were a few weeks ago.

BAD

*** The P-Bruins let a 3-0 lead slip away on Saturday before pulling out the win.

*** They gave up another shorthanded goal on Friday. They’s allowed nine goals while on the power play, third-most in the AHL.

*** Springfield’s winning goal on Sunday came with one second left in overtime.

*** Providence took another delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass on Sunday.

*** Very tough bounce over Chris Breen’s stick off a faceoff led to Springfield’s second goal on Saturday.

*** The P-Bruins gave up four power-play goals on 14 penalties in three games.

UGLY 

*** Injured: Ryan Fitzgerald, Anders Bjork, Jakub Zboril.

There was more good than bad for the Providence Bruins over the weekend as they earned four out of six points. They started with a very solid 4-2 win over Lehigh Valley at home on Friday. They lost at Springfield, 5-3, on Saturday. On Sunday, they dominated Hartford, 5-1, at home.

“We played really well (Sunday). We played pretty well on Friday. We had a good start (Saturday), then we didn’t manage pucks well. That’s really tough, especially in that building. If you don’t manage pucks, you’re screwed. Overall, it was a good weekend for us,’’ said coach Jay Leach.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

*** Gemel Smith had a fine weekend with two goals on Friday and single goals on Saturday and Sunday.

*** After coming up empty on eight shots in Springfield, Peter Cehlarik scored twice on Sunday.

*** With Providence up by two goals and only a couple of seconds left on the clock on Friday, Anton Blidh could have gotten out of the way of Lehigh Valley’s final shot. Instead, he sprawled out and blocked it.

*** Emil Johansson’s first goal of the season came while the P-Bruins were shorthanded on Sunday.

*** Kyle Cumiskey made a pretty pass on Peter Cehlarik’s first goal on Sunday.

*** Jordan Szwarz had a goal on Saturday and a goal and an assist on Sunday. He leads the team in goals with 12.

*** Trent Frederic had a goal and an assist on Friday. The Karson Kuhlman to Cameron Hughes to Frederic goal was a beauty. On his assist, Frederic won a draw clean to Smith, who hit the water bottle for a score.

*** Jeremy Lauzon got the better of T.J. Brennan of the Phantoms in a fight on Friday night.

*** Wiley Sherman stepped in and traded punches with Hartford’s Matt Beleskey after the ex-Bruins elbowed Connor Clifton on Sunday. Leach: “Great job by Sherm.”

BAD

*** The P-Bruins started the weekend with a too-many-men penalty 1:53 into Friday’s game.

*** Lehigh Valley scored two goals on its only two shots in the second period. Neither was Zane McIntyre’s fault.

*** It appeared that Hughes had put the P-Bruins ahead by two goals in the first period against Springfield, but the score was washed out because of goalie interference. It was a head-scratcher of a call as there didn’t appear to be any contact with the goalie.

*** Providence gave up 39 shots overall and four goals in the second period in Springfield.

UGLY

*** Injured: Anders Bjork, Ryan Fitzgerald.