
Fabian Lysell gets ready to fire the puck for Providence’s only goal on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)
After winning seven straight from Nov. 24 to Dec. 9, the Providence Bruins have fallen fell back to earth, earning only one point in their last three games.
They started their week on Wednesday with a 3-2 road loss in overtime against the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears. That turned out to be the high point.
Back home on Friday, Providence was blown out, 8-2, by the Toronto Marlies. The P-Bruins had the night off Saturday, but rest didn’t help. The Syracuse Crunch, who did play on Saturday and traveled from Utica after their game, beat the low-energy P-Bruins, 4-1, on Sunday.
At 13-10-2-2, Providence was tied with Springfield for fourth place in the Atlantic Division at the end of the day on Sunday.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— The positive news concerning the power play, which is 23rd in the AHL, is that it produced a goal against Hershey, two against the Marlies and one on Sunday against Syracuse.
— Joey Abate had a good game in Hershey with a goal and four shots. He was fortunate that his wrist was not broken on a reckless slash by Mike Sgarbossa in the second period. A two-minute penalty was called on the play, but it easily could have been a major and a suspension.
On Friday, Abate took issue with a hit on John Farinacci by Matteo Pietroniro of the Marlies and fought the Marlies defenseman.
— With a goal on Friday, Georgii Merkulov scored in his fourth straight game.
— Luke Toporowski made a good play to take the puck to the net hard in the first period on Friday and Jayson Megna scored on the rebound.
BAD
— Friday night wasn’t a good one for either of Providence’s goalies. Starter Mikey DiPietro gave up three goals on 12 shots. Brandon Bussi allowed five goals on 17 shots.
— Reilly Walsh was minus-four and Mike Callahan and Georgii Merkulov were minus-three against the Marlies.
— Providence generated only 23 shots in Sunday’s game.
— The P-Bruins face a tough week on the road. In the middle of playing 15 games in 30 days, they play at Toronto on Wednesday, at Rochester on Friday and at Hershey on Saturday.
— They don’t play at home again until Jan. 7.
— The power play is 26th in the league at home. I blame the fans who yell, “Shoooot.” You know who you are.
— They’ve given up 81 goals. Only seven teams have allowed more.
UGLY
— The P-Bruins scored the first goal and the last goal on Friday night, but in between Toronto put eight goals on the board. The 8-2 loss was Providence’s most one-sided in recent memory.
— The penalty kill gave up two goals against Toronto and one against Hershey and Syracuse. The PK continues to be the worst in the AHL at 74 percent.