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.