
The Providence Bruins lost one and won one over the weekend.
They lost to the Bridgeport Islanders, 3-1, at home on Friday night, then dug their out of an early two-goal hole and came away with a 5-3 victory at Bridgeport on Saturday night.
By the end of the day on Sunday, Providence held down first place in the Atlantic Division by a slim margin — .613 points percentage to Hershey’s .603.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— The Islanders went after Sammy Asselin very hard on Friday, no doubt in retaliation for his showboating stick twirl – which was straight out of the Quebec league – last Sunday. Asselin didn’t take a backwards step and on Saturday he scored a goal and earned the primary assist on another. On his goal, he was knocked down by a crosscheck to the back in the slot, but got up and went to the edge of the blue paint to collect the puck and lift it into the net.
— Eduards Tralmaks scored in both games, including the game-winner on Saturday. He has goals in three straight games and four in his last five games. He made a pretty move to score his goal on Friday after some dogged forechecking by Joona Koppanen. Tralmaks and linemates Justin Brazeau and Koppanen – the 664-Pound Line — were very effective in Saturday’s game. Brazeau’s tip-in put Providence on the board late in the first period.
— Jack Ahcan had a tremendous all-around game on Saturday. He retrieved and moved pucks, defended and scored the tying goal in the second period.
— Victor Berglund dished out two assists on Saturday. He has 1-4-5 in his last four games.
— Jeremy Swayman made a fabulous save on a three-on-one in the first period on Friday.
— Captain Josiah Didier played his first game of the season after recovering from an Achilles injury.
— Didier came to the defense of Jakub Lauko after he was roughed up by Bridgeport’s Seth Helgeson on Friday. Alex-Olivier Voyer fought Paul Thompson after the Islanders’ winger threw a hard hit on Aaron Ness on Saturday.
— With a victory on Saturday, Troy Grosenick improved his record to 8-2-1. His goals-against average of 2.28 is sixth in the AHL and his .917 save percentage is eighth.
— Andrew Peski recorded his first point in the Providence uniform – an assist – on Saturday night.
BAD
— The P-Bruins gave up two goals in 14 seconds in the second minute of the first period on Saturday night. (Neither one was Troy Grosenick’s fault.)
— Providence plays its next five games on the road. Thankfully, they will be against teams other than Bridgeport, the opponent for the last three games.
UGLY
— Injured: Jakub Lauko, Nick Wolff