The Providence Bruins peppered Springfield Thunderbirds goalie Vadim Zherenko with 20 shots in the third period on Sunday, but could not score. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)

The Providence Bruins hit a couple of bumps in the road over the last week, losing two out of three games.

The week started with a 4-1 loss to the Rocket in Laval on Tuesday night. Providence had been on the road for eight days and their fatigue showed.

In Springfield on Saturday, the P-Bruins jumped out to a quick lead, lost the lead, but won in overtime, 4-3, on a Christian Wolanin goal.

Back at the AMP for a rematch with the Thunderbirds on Sunday, Providence lost, 3-1.

“Couple of mistakes and they’re in the back of your net. We let a team (playing) three in three hang around. Their goalie played an exceptional game and they played hard,” said coach Ryan Mougenel.

“I don’t think we did a good job of earning second shots. There were a lot of one-and-dones. It’s a lesson learned, for sure. We’re not a team that can expect (Patrick Brown) to lead us every night. It’s not fair to him. We need other guys stepping up. For the most part, the majority of the guys did.

“I’ve been thinking about (Alex) Steeves a lot, too. You can talk about opportunity, but what are you going to do when you get the opportunity? Alex Steeves made the most of his opportunity. Every time you’re on the ice it’s an opportunity to show that you don’t belong or you do belong here,” he said.

“I thought some guys put it on the line, like (Billy Sweezey). He goes out and fights a guy (Kale Kessy) who gets three shifts, who is a tough customer. He does that because he cares, and that’s what some guys have to understand. Sweezey’s the ultimate teammate. Some guys have to understand that’s part of the gig.”

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— With a record of 17-5, 34 points and a .773 points percentage, Providence is in second place In the Atlantic Division, a point behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which has played one more game than the P-Bruins.

— The P-Bruins are 14-0 when scoring first.

— Frederic Brunet  was a standout at both ends of the rink on Saturday night.

— Providence killed all five shorthanded situations in their three games.

— Fabian Lysell made a nice pass to set up a goal by Frederic Brunet in Laval and scored his 10^th goal of the season in Springfield. He is tied with Patrick Brown for the team lead in goals.

Going into Sunday’s game, Lysell had points in 9 of his last 10 games. His totals in that span were 6-7-13.

— The fourth line of Jake Schmaltz between Joey Abate and Riley Duran continued to provide quality minutes. Schmaltz gave Providence an early lead with a goal from Abate and Duran at 3:55 on Saturday night.

— Dans Locmelis set up Christian Wolanin’s OT goal on Saturday night with a pretty pass.

— The Bruins announced the signing of  Wolanin to a one-year AHL contract on Sunday morning, less than 24 hours after his OT goal in Springfield.

BAD

— Providence hit the crossbar twice and the post once while pouring 20 shots on the Springfield net in the third period on Sunday.

— Springfield scored on two of its first three shots on Sunday against Michael DiPietro.

— The P-Bruins let a two-goal lead slip away on Saturday before they won the game in extra time.

— Providence is 9-1 on the road, but they head out on a tough trip this week with a pair of games in Hershey and one at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

UGLY

— After Tuesday night’s game in Laval, the team bus arrived back in Providence at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It was a slippery ride down snowy I-89 through Vermont. — Injured: Max Wanner