The Providence Bruins kept their heads above water by earning three of six points over the weekend.
They lost in overtime to Bridgeport, 5-4, at home on Friday; beat Hartford in overtime, 3-2, on the road on Saturday; and lost to the Wolf Pack, 4-1, at home on Sunday.
Coach Jay Leach didn’t sugarcoat Sunday’s game, which was his team’s worst of the season on home ice.
“It wasn’t good. We were terrible. Power play was obviously terrible. Our execution was terrible. Even when we made some plays, the boards were terrible. It was not a good game for us. It was frustrating and disappointing,’’ he said.
Despite that bad game, the P-Bruins finished the weekend in playoff position. They are in fourth place, four points ahead of Lehigh Valley and a point behind Hershey.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
*** Gemel Smith continues to be a standout. He had 1-1-2 on Friday and goals on Saturday and Sunday. His goal in Hartford was a beauty. He danced a defender and then picked a corner from the faceoff dot. Smith has 27 points in 28 games for the P-Bruins.
*** Connor Clifton had a strong weekend. On Saturday, he made a nice play to set up the winning goal in OT and was on the ice for all three Providence goals. On Sunday, he had an assist and six shots.
*** Jordan Szwarz scored in overtime for the win in Hartford. With a team-leading 18 goals, he is closing in on his third straight 20-goal season.
*** Ryan Fitzgerald made a gorgeous pass to Lee Stempniak for a breakaway goal on Saturday.
*** Paul Carey scored twice against Bridgeport.
*** Michael Doherty decisioned Hartford’s Ryan Lindgren in a fight on Saturday.
BAD
*** Providence had only eight shots halfway through Sunday’s game.
*** From the Department of Bad Officiating: Referees Jason Faist and Michael Markovic had a tough night on Friday. Lee Stempniak was victimized twice. He was sent to the box in the first minute for goalie interference after a Bridgeport defenseman knocked over goalie Christopher Gibson. If you are rating bad calls on a scale of 1-10, this one was an 11. In the second period, he received four minutes for checking to the head after a collision with Connor Jones. It’s debatable whether it merited even a two-minute penalty, never mind four minutes.
*** Urho Vaakanainen had a rough day on Sunday.
UGLY
*** Providence was outscored, 3-1, on the power play, which went 1 for 16 in the three games. It’s 22nd in the AHL at 17.2 percent. The P-Bruins gave up a shorthanded goal on Saturday and two more on Sunday. Their total for the season is 13. Only Stockton with 15 has given up more.
*** Injured: Jeremy Lauzon, Cameron Hughes, Kyle Cumiskey, Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, Austin Fyten, Anders Bjork.
Can’t understand this coach. Didn’t have many answers to us season ticket holders on the Q&A. When his team starts out flat footed and gives up a few goals quickly, he doesn’t call a timeout and gather his troops. Power play looks high school at best. Sweeney really needs to pay attention, cause not much behind that bench for coaching.
LikeLike