Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins week

It was a bit of a rollercoaster week for the Providence Bruins.

They lost a game, won a game and earned a point in an overtime loss. They finished with three out of six points.

The P-Bruins started on a sour note, losing to the Springfield Thunderbirds, 4-1, on Wednesday. They bounced back on Friday, beating the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 6-3. Then they fell to the Hartford Wolf Pack, 2-1, in overtime on Saturday.

“Overtime, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really happy with that goal. We had a few guys circling in front of our own net. It’s Hockey 101 — stopping and reacting. When you play on the move like that, bad things happen,’’ said coach Ryan Mougenel.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— The win over Lehigh Valley on Friday was by far the most entertaining game of the year. Plenty of goals and four fights. It was fun to watch.

— There was a lot of emotion in Friday night’s win, too. Emily Cave, widow of former P-Bruins captain Colby Cave, dropped the puck in a ceremonial faceoff before the game. Then Zach Senyshyn – a close friend of Colby – scored a hat trick, pointing to the heavens after the third goal. It was a special moment.

— Nick Wolff played a strong game against the Phantoms, defending well and standing up for his teammates with two fights. As of the end of the day Sunday, he led the AHL with 42 penalty minutes.

— Urho Vaakanainen, who has been playing well while partnered with Wolff, scored his first goal of the season against Springfield.

— Jack Studnicka scored a goal after a flashy spin-around pass from Brady Lyle on Friday, then used his speed to back off the defense, enter the offensive zone and dish to Jakub Lauko for a goal on Saturday.

— Kyle Keyser dove across the crease to make a fabulous save on Sam Anas of the T-Birds in the third period on Wednesday. Save of the year so far for the P-Bruins.

— Steven Fogarty scored a goal and an assist in the win over the Phantoms. Jesper Froden and Jack Ahcan posted a pair of assists each.

— Chris Wagner blew up Anthony Greco and Libor Hajek of the Wolf Pack with big hits on Saturday.

— Providence’s special teams are trending up. The power play, which went two for four on Friday, is tenth in the league at 21.7 percent. The penalty kill is sixth at 87 percent.

— Jon Gillies is the 19th former Providence College player to skate for the P-Bruins. With 31 saves, he won his third straight start against Lehigh Valley. His save percentage is .948 and his goals-against average is 1.67.

— Jack Dougherty, a veteran of 286 AHL games, was solid in his season debut on Saturday.

BAD

— No one puts a whole lot of stock in plus-minus anymore, but if you’re near the bottom of the league in that stat, well, that’s not where you want to be. Of the 878 AHL players so far, Jakub Lauko’s minus-nine in 12 games is 877th and Cameron Hughes’ minus-nine in nine games falls at No. 875., Alex Nylander of Rockford is last with minus-10 in 10 games.

— Providence was 2:32 away from a win in regulation time against Hartford before the Wolf Pack tied the game with Nick Wolff in the box for cross-checking.

UGLY

— Injured: Josiah Didier, Troy Grosenick, Cameron Hughes, Joona Koppanen, Ian McKinnon

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