Timely scoring, stout defense and good goaltending can carry a team a long way.

That was the formula for the Providence Bruins over the weekend as they extended their winning streak to seven games with a pair of road victories.

They opened with a 2-0 win against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday night. The P-Bruins moved on to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday and beat the Penguins, 5-1.

At 13-8-1-2, Providence was third in the Atlantic Division as of Sunday and was within four points of the second-place Hartford Wolf Pack.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— The line of Georgii Merkulov between Jesper Boqvist and Justin Brazeau was on fire on Saturday night. The trio accounted for all five Providence goals, with Merkulov putting up 2-3-5, Boqvist 2-2-4 and Brazeau 1-1-2. All three were plus-five.

— If Boston needs a center after the injury on Saturday to Pavel Zacha, my choice would be Georgii Merkulov. He leads the team in scoring with 8-13-21 in 24 games. More important, he’s been really good away from the puck, which was not a strength a year ago.

Merkulov scored the game-winner and added an assist against the Phantoms the night before lighting it up with two goals and three helpers against the Penguins.

— Justin Brazeau has points in five straight games and has 3-4-7 in that span.

— Providence is getting some of the best goaltending in the league. Mikey DiPietro stopped all 19 shots for his second shutout of the year on Friday. His .925 save percentage was fifth in the league as of Sunday. Brandon Bussi kicked out 30 of 31 shots on Saturday. He has a .921 save percentage.

— Defenseman Alec Regula was plus-three on Saturday and led the AHL with plus-16 in 21 games going into Sunday’s games. Right behind him is Dan Renouf with plus-14 in 21 games.

— Reilly Walsh had a good weekend. He gave Providence some breathing room with a power-play goal against Lehigh Valley, then was credited with two assists on Sunday, including a perfect pass to Georgii Merkulov for a breakaway goal against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

— The P-Bruins outshot Lehigh Valley in the first period, 11-2.

BAD

— Providence is playing 14 games in 30 days in the month of December.

— The penalty kill is 31^st in the league at 75 percent.

UGLY

— The team arrived back in Providence at 3 a.m. on Sunday. Could have been worse, I guess, but that’s ugly.