
Riley Tufte takes the puck to the net against Belleville. He scored his team-leading16th goal in Bridgeport on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)
The Providence Bruins won all three of their games over the weekend.
Two of the games went to overtime and the other was decided in a shootout.
The weekend started with a 2-1 OT win over the Belleville Senators at the AMP. The P-Bruins traveled to Bridgeport on Saturday and came home with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Islanders. Back home on Sunday, Providence beat the Toronto Marlies in OT, 4-3.
Providence finished the weekend in first place in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference with a record of 30-8-1-0 and 61 points. They are three points ahead of the second-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins with four games in hand.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly.
GOOD
— Down from Boston on a conditioning loan, Jordan Harris scored the winner in OT on Sunday. He also earned an assist on Providence’s OT goal on Friday.
— Fabian Lysell scored the winner in OT on Friday as he and Dans Locmelis worked a slick give and go. Lysell, who has four game-winning goals, also was credited with a helper on Friday. He opened the scoring with a goal on Sunday. With 14 goals, he is tied for second on the team with Patrick Brown, Locmelis and Georgii Merkulov.
— Merkulov had a goal and an assist in Sunday’s game. With 209 points, he is now second all-time in Providence Bruins scoring behind Andy Hilbert, who has 210.
— Matt Poitras had a strong weekend as he scored goals on Friday and Sunday. He had an assist on Sunday, too.
— Michael DiPietro recorded two more wins, beating Belleville and Toronto. He was credited with an assist on the OT goal by Jordan Harris on Sunday. His .938 save percentage and 1.76 goals-against average are best in the AHL.
— John Farinacci scored the only goal in the shootout win on Saturday. On Sunday, he put a perfect pass on Lysell’s stick for Providence’s first goal.
— Luke Cavallin stopped 26 shots on Saturday night in improving his record to 3-0 with a .931 save percentage. He denied all three Bridgeport shooters in the shootout.
— Christian Wolanin had two assists in Bridgeport.
— Off a nice setup by Joey Abate, Dalton Bancroft scored his first goal of the season on Saturday night.
— Frederic Brunet continues to string together strong games. He was a standout in Bridgeport.
BAD
— The P-Bruins were outshot 17-9 in the first period on Sunday.
— Providence was called for too many men in overtime on Saturday. Lysell jumped off the bench too soon.
— In the shootout in Bridgeport, Merkulov lost his chance when he overskated the puck at center ice, much like Brad Marchand did in a Boston game against Philadelphia in January 2020.
— Thirty-six seconds after taking a 3-2 lead in the third period on Saturday, Providence allowed Bridgeport to tie the game.
UGLY
— Injured: Victor Soderstrom, Ty Gallagher, Simon Zajicek