Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins weekend

The puck slides into the net behind Hartford goalie Talyn Boyko after Providence’s Billy Sweezey (6) bulled his way to the net. It was Sweezey’s first goal of the year. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)

The Providence Bruins have had some sluggish starts in recent years, but not this season.

They won both their games over the weekend, improving their record to 4-0.

The P-Bruins started with a 5-3 road victory over the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday night. At home on Saturday, they beat the Hartford Wolf Pack, 5-2.

“I think we had a great camp,” coach Ryan Mougenel said of the fast start. “Everybody had a hand in it, from the (Joey) Abates to some of the guys that are even in Maine. It just started off on the right foot. The compete level was evident from day one.

“We’ve been talking about how important the start is. This is probably the first year we got off to the start we really wanted, playing good winning hockey early on. The goaltending’s been awesome.”

In both weekend games, Providence was able to grab the lead and extend it.

“We talked about creating doubt tonight and how important that is. The way you create doubt is by sticking to our structure. Offensive players are going to find ways to create ice and create space for each other and that’s what our offensive guys did. They made a lot of pretty special plays. I liked that we understood the momentum swings.”

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— The power play was on fire on Friday, clicking on three of six chances. It took Providence only five seconds to score on one of the power plays. After an offensive zone faceoff, all five Providence skaters touched the puck before Alex Steeves put it in the net. It went from Matt Poitras to Victor Soderstrom to Matej Blumel to Georgii Merkulov and then to Steeves. The PP has a 37.5 percent success rate, third-best in the AHL.

— Four of the top 10 scorers in the league are Bruins: Georgii Merkulov, Fabian Lysell, Alex Steeves and Matej Blumel.

—  Riley Tufte  scored twice and added an assist in Bridgeport, then chipped in with a goal and an assist against Hartford.

— Patrick Brown had a goal and an assist on Friday and two assists on Saturday.

— Georgii Merkulov recorded two assists against Bridgeport and a goal against Hartford. With 186 points, he is now tied for second all-time with Sergei Zholtok in points with the P-Bruins.

— Dans Locmelis, Jonathan Aspirot and Billy Sweezey scored their first goals of the season over the weekend.

— Blumel had two assists against the Islanders and one against the Wolf Pack.

— Mike DiPietro made 27 saves on 30 shots against Bridgeport. Simon Zajicek stopped 31 of 33 shots against Hartford.

— The P-Bruins are one of seven teams that has not lost a game.

BAD

— A turnover behind the net by Michael DiPietro handed Bridgeport a goal in the first period on Friday.

— The P-Bruins gave up two goals on the penalty kill against the Islanders. The PK is at 76.9 percent, which is 19th in the league.

UGLY

— For the second straight week, there’s no ugly.

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