John Farinacci celebrates with teammates after scoring in the first period against Hartford (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)
The Providence Bruins only played twice last weekend and they won both games.
They started with a 4-1 victory against the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday night, then beat the Hartford Wolf Pack, 4-1, on Saturday night. Both games were on the road.
The month of December was good for the P-Bruins as they went 9-2-1, earning 19 of 24 points. Not too shabby, considering the way they struggled at times in the opening weeks of the season.
Here’s the good, bad & ugly.
GOOD
— As 2025 starts, the Providence Bruins have a record of 17-11-3-0. They are tied for second in the Atlantic Division with 37 points, 4 behind the first-place Hershey Bears.
— Fabian Lysell had one of his best games of the season in Bridgeport. He scored a goal, earned a primary assist on two other goals and was plus-3. The next night in Boston, Lysell played his first NHL game for the Bruins and didn’t look out of place in a win over Columbus.
— Riley Tufte had his most productive game of the season with 2-1-3 and plus-3 against Bridgeport. He is second on the team with 9 goals.
— John Farinacci had 3 assists and was plus-3 in the win at Bridgeport. The next night in Hartford he scored 1:40 into the game and set up a Max Jones goal early in the second period.
— Matt Poitras had an empty net goal and an assist in Hartford. He has 8-10-18 in 19 games.
— Providence received good goaltending in both games. Michael DiPietro stopped 31 of 32 shots on Friday and Brandon Bussi kicked out 36 of 37 on Saturday, including 15 in the first period.
— Billy Sweezey made quick work of Hartford’s 6-foot-7 Dylan Roobroeck in a late-game bout on Saturday.
— Both Frederic Brunet and Ian Mitchell were plus-3 against Bridgeport.
BAD
— Jeffrey Viel is tied for the league lead in minor penalties with 22.
— Providence’s power play on the road is 27th in the AHL at 13 percent – 7 for 54.
— They are 0-8-1-0 when trailing after two periods.
Matt Poitras has 7-9-16 in 17 games since being sent to AHL last month. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)
In their last three games before the Christmas break, the Providence Bruins earned three out of six points.
The week started with a 4-3 road loss in overtime against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Wednesday night as Providence’s six-game winning streak was snapped.
The P-Bruins responded with one of their best all-around performances of the season in a 1-0 road win against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday.
At home on Saturday, Providence dug an 0-2 hole that they couldn’t climb out of on the way to a 4-2 loss to the Wolf Pack.
“There’s a lot of good elements (from the week), for sure. (Friday night) was one of our best games that we’ve played to date. There were things in (Saturday’s) game that you don’t like. We let our emotions get the best of us, spilled over from last night a little bit, and it cost us. Their goalie was good. Both nights their goaltending was really good. You’ve got to find ways to win,” said coach Ryan Mougenel.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— Michael DiPietro stopped all 21 Hartford shots for his second shutout of the season in Friday’s 1-0 win, including a 10-bell save on Adam Sykora with 9:54 left. He is having an excellent season with a 10-4-2 record. His goal’s-against average (2.05) is fifth in the AHL; his save percentage (.923) is sixth.
— After Hartford took liberties with Matt Poitras on Friday, Ryan Mast did what needed to be done, dropping the gloves with Alex Belzile, who had cross-checked Poitras in the back after the whistle.
— Poitras extended his goal streak to seven straight games with a power-play tuck on Wednesday before he was held off the board on Friday. While he didn’t score that night, Poitras played a superb two-way game.
— Georgii Merkulov made a couple of nice passes to set up power play goals. He passed through a seam to Matt Poitras for a one-timer against Lehigh Valley and found Vinni Lettieri for a score in the last minute of the first period on Saturday. He has 3-9-12 in his last 10 games.
— The power play, which was near the bottom of the league not very long ago, is up to 12th at 18.8 percent.
— Brett Harrison made a good pass to Riley Duran at the edge of the crease for a goal in the third period at Lehigh Valley. It capped an excellent response shift for the P-Bruins, who’d given up the go-ahead goal to the Phantoms just 18 seconds before.
— Jackson Edward saved a goal in the first period on Wednesday, sweeping the puck off the goal line as it was about to roll in.
— Providence outshot Hartford 21-5 in the first period and 16-5 in the second on Friday. At one point, the P-Bruins put 25 straight shots on the Wolf Pack net from the first period into the second.
— Stick tap for Providence equipment staffer Shjon Whitehead. On Saturday night, after Vinni Lettieri’s stick snapped, Whitehead quickly handed a new stick to Lettieri, who passed to Patrick Brown seconds later for a power play goal.
— Jordan Oesterle has been in Boston for six weeks, but he continues to lead all AHL defensemen with a shooting percentage of 23.1 – three goals on 13 shots.
BAD
— Fabian Lysell was awarded a penalty shot with the score tied at three and 6:27 left in the third period against Lehigh Valley. With the go-ahead goal on his stick, he skated in, threw a bunch of moves at Lehigh Valley goalie Cal Peterson, then fumbled the puck and failed to even get a shot on net.
— Down by a goal, Providence had three power plays in the second half of the third period of Saturday’s loss but didn’t score.
— Six of Providence’s next seven games are on the road.
— Tyler Pitlick, Jeffrey Viel and John Farinacci broke into the Hartford zone on a three on one with five-and-a-half minutes left in the second on Friday, but Dylan Garand made the save for the Wolf Pack.
UGLY
— Providence was 7-0 when leading after two periods and was ahead by two goals entering the third period against Lehigh Valley, but then gave up three goals in just over four minutes early and ended up losing in OT. Ouch.
— The P-Bruins’ bus pulled into the AMP at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday after the trip back from Wednesday night’s game in Lehigh Valley.
Matt Poitras beats Hartford’s Louis Domingue through the five-hole for Providence’s second goal on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)
After struggling to keep their heads above water for the first couple of months of the season, the Providence Bruins are now one of the hottest teams in the American Hockey League.
They won all three of their games last week, extending their victory streak to six and moving up to second place in the Atlantic Division.
The P-Bruins started with a 4-2 road win against the Bridgeport Islanders on Wednesday. Back at home on Friday, they beat Bridgeport again, 5-3. They followed that with a 5-3 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack at home on Sunday.
“It’s not like the effort wasn’t there (when the team was losing),” said coach Ryan Mougenel after Sunday’s game. “The one thing we’ve had is a lot of continuity. That helps a lot, especially as we’ve kind of been through (some struggles) a little bit. With the same guys pushing they get used to each other, there’s some chemistry building and our team game is building.
“For me it comes from the leadership group that’s been outstanding. And it’s not just guys like (Lettieri and Brown). We talk about them a lot. But the Viels, the Mitchells, the Callahans have done a lot of little things that translate into wins. I’m proud of how they’ve built the group.”
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— As of Sunday night, Providence was 14-10-2. With 30 points, they trailed the first place Hershey Bears by nine points in the Atlantic Division. Just a point behind the P-Bruins are Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Charlotte.
— Matt Poitras has goals in 6 straight games and 11 points in his last 7 games. In Sunday’s game, he unselfishly passed up a shot at the empty net and instead fed Georgii Merkulov for a goal. Overall, he has 6-8-14 and a plus-8 in 14 games.
— Vinni Lettieri had two assists in each of Providence’s three games. He has 1-11-12 in his last seven games and is up to fifth in the AHL in scoring with 10-17-27 in 26 games.
— Georgii Merkulov has a 7-game point streak. After a slow start he has 6-17-23 in 23 games.
— The P-Bruins struggled to score earlier in the season, but now they’ve put up 28 goals in the last 6 games.
— Fabian Lysell had a pair of productive games. He scored a goal on Friday and had two assists on Sunday. The first helper on Sunday was a pretty setup for a Patrick Brown goal.
— Max Jones scored a pretty goal on an individual effort in Bridgeport.
— Jackson Edward scored his first pro goal in Bridgeport on Wednesday.
— Jeffrey Viel had a goal and an assist on Sunday.
BAD
— On Sunday, with 60 seconds left in a 5-2 game, referee Liam Maaskant felt the need to call a holding-the-stick penalty on Hartford’s Ryder Korczak. C’mon, man. Show that you have a feel for where the game is.
— On Friday, after a Bridgeport player fell down in the general vicinity of Providence’s Frederic Brunet, referee Sydney Harris whistled Brunet for tripping. Ridiculous.
UGLY
— The P-Bruins had zero power plays on Wednesday night in Bridgeport. None. Not one.
Mason Millman unloads a shot that ended up in the net for Providence’s first goal on Saturday night. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)
It’s been feast or famine for the Providence Bruins in recent weeks, but they ate like kings over the last three games as they left their offensive struggles behind them, put up a total of 14 goals and won three in a row.
They went on the road to beat the Utica Comets, 3-2, on Friday, then returned home to beat the Bridgeport Islanders, 6-3, on Saturday and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 5-0, on Sunday.
“The guys should be proud of how they played this weekend. They got the message. We got the win (on Saturday) but when you take ownership of your game, I think there’s guys, our staff included, who knew we had to be better. For a three-in-three, the guys played extremely hard,” said coach Ryan Mougenel.
“It was our older guys, they set the tone (on Sunday). Tyler Pitlick, Patrick Brown, Vinni Lettieri were outstanding. Mike Callahan and Ian Mitchell have handled a lot of difficult minutes. Cally for me has been absolutely outstanding.”
As of Sunday night, they were in fifth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 11-10-2 for 24 points. They are only one point away from second place.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— The power play went 5 for 14 across the three games – 2 for 6 on Friday, 1 for 2 on Saturday and 2 for 5 on Sunday. It was 15th in the AHL as of Sunday evening at 18 percent. That’s a big improvement from a few weeks ago when it was one of the worst in the league.
— It was a good week for Matt Poitras. He’s scored goals in three straight games and added a couple of assists. He looks to be in better game shape than when he arrived. He’s been more effective deeper into his shifts and better able to win races and battle for pucks. He has 10 points in 11 games with three goals and seven assists.
— Brandon Bussi appears to be finding his game with two solid wins in a row. He kicked out 18 of 20 shots in Utica and stopped all 21 shots against the Penguins in recording his first shutout of the season.
— Vinni Lettieri had a goal and three assists in the three games. He continues to lead the team with 10-11-21 in 23 games.
— Jeffrey Viel’s shorthanded score on Sunday was one of the prettiest goals of the season. “It was good to see him get rewarded for how hard he works,” said Mougenel.
— Georgii Merkulov had a goal and an assist against the Comets, an assist against the Islanders and a goal against the Penguins. He has 5-13-18 in 20 games.
— Mason Millman has contributed solid minutes since his recall from Maine in mid-November. The 23-year-old defenseman had a goal and an assist on Saturday and two assists on Sunday.
— Jackson Edward made a perfect pass to set up Matt Poitras’ goal in the second period against the Penguins.
— Brett Harrison snapped a streak of 33 regular-season games without a goal on Sunday.
BAD
— It was such a good week that the only bad I could come up with is that the penalty kill is 27th in the league on the road at 14.6 percent.
Not a lot to be thankful for this week as the Providence Bruins season took a wrong turn.
The P-Bruins lost all three of their games, one on the road and two at home, while managing to score a total of only five goals.
They started the week with a game in Utica on Wednesday, where they came from behind to tie the game early in the third period before losing to the Comets, 5-3.
In a rematch against Utica on Saturday, Providence could not solve Nico Daws, who stopped all 33 shots in a 3-0 decision for the Comets.
On Sunday, the P-Bruins lost, 3-2, to the Springfield Thunderbirds.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— After Providence started slow on Sunday, Billy Sweezey gave his team a bit of a spark by dropping the gloves with Reece Newkirk.
— Trevor Kuntar was credited with a first period assist in Utica and later scored his first goal of the season, snapping a stretch of 14 straight games without a goal.
— Matt Poitras didn’t get a lot done in the two games against Utica, but he was productive against Springfield on Sunday with two assists. He has 0-5-5 in 8 games.
— Defenseman Mason Millman scored his first goal of the year on Sunday.
BAD
— They finished the weekend in seventh place in the eight-team Atlantic Division with a record of 8-10-2-0 and they are 13th in the 15-team Eastern Conference.
— Providence has had some of the best goaltending in the AHL the last couple of years. Last week, not so much. Brandon Bussi wasn’t sharp on Wednesday and Michael DiPietro allowed a leaker on Saturday and another on Sunday.
— The P-Bruins are in the bottom half of the league on both the power play (23rd at 14.7 percent) and the penalty kill (19th at 81.9 percent).
— While shorthanded in the second period on Wednesday, Max Jones and Jeffrey Viel broke into the Utica zone on a two on zero, but Nico Daws stopped Jones’ shot. You have to find a way to bury one there.
— Providence had a good start on Wednesday and took the lead early on a Vinni Lettieri goal, but finished the first period trailing by a goal even after outshooting Utica, 14-6.
— After the P-Bruins tied the score early in the third period in Utica, they allowed the Comets to retake the lead just 17 seconds later.
— Utica scored on two of its first four shots on Wednesday.
— Georgii Merkulov was minus-3 in Utica.
— They outshot Utica,13-6,but didn’t score in the third period on Saturday. They outshot Springfield, 13-7, in the third on Sunday and scored only once.
— With referees Tanner Doiron and Harrison O’Pray in charge, the power plays on Sunday were five for Springfield to two for Providence.
— Brett Harrison scored his last regular season goal on Feb. 9, 33 games ago.
Rinkside Rhode Island 