The Providence Bruins went on the road last week and won all three of their games.
They started with a scintillating 7-6 shootout victory in Hershey on Wednesday. The P-Bruins trailed, 3-0, 4-2 and 5-3, but kept coming back. They finally pulled out the win on shootout scores by Robert Lantosi and Jakub Lauko.
On Saturday in Charlotte, Providence broke open a one-goal game in the third period and came away with a 4-1 victory. On Sunday, they finished the trip with a 4-0 win in Charlotte.
“The season is really long and it doesn’t necessarily matter if the goalie gets the shutout or not. The most important part is those two points,’’ said Dan Vladar, who pitched a 36-save shutout in his first start after returning from injury. “We got six out of six (points) this week and that’s huge for our group.’’
Here’s the good, bad and ugly (actually, there’s very little bad and ugly).
GOOD
— The P-Bruins finished the weekend in first place in the Atlantic Division and third in points in the league. They’ve won four in a row, their longest win streak of the season.
— The P-Bruins scored three shorthanded goals in Sunday’s win and now lead the AHL in that category with eight. The PK, which was last in the league early in the season, is now seventh at 86.4 percent. They’ve killed the last 10.
— Urho Vaakanainen continues to play his best hockey of the season. He scored twice and now has seven points in his last five games.
— Brendan Woods is on fire with goals in three straight games and has 5-2-7 in his last five games.
— Providence leads the AHL with five shutouts – four by Max Lagace and one by Dan Vladar.
— After playing well in his first two NHL games with Boston, Jack Studnicka returned on Sunday and scored an empty-net goal and an assist. He has goals in six straight games.
— The fourth line had an excellent week. Joona Koppanen had 1-2-3 in three games, Sam Asselin has assists in three straight and Scott Conway scored a goal on Saturday.
— Max Lagace made a 10-bell save on Garrett Pilon in overtime in Hershey, allowing the P-Bruins to get to the shootout.
— Jakub Lauko blew past a Hershey defender to score a big goal on Wednesday, then won the game in the shootout.
— Oskar Steen broke a 14-game dry spell with a goal in Hershey.
— Pavel Shen scored his first AHL goal on Sunday.
BAD
— Max Lagace allowed goals on four of the first seven shots in the second period in Hershey.
UGLY
— Injured: Chris Breen, Kyle Keyser, Anton Blidh