Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins weekend

Providence’s Dalton Bancroft and Belleville’s Djibril Touré had a spirited bout on Friday night. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)

The Providence Bruins haven’t had many – or any — weekends like this one so far this season.

After winning a franchise record 13th game in a row, 5-2, against Belleville on Friday, the P-Bruins lost in Springfield, 3-2, on Saturday, then got off to a bad start and dropped a 5-2 decision to last-place Hartford at the AMP on Sunday. 

 Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Providence finished the weekend in first place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 38-10-1 and 77 points. They are two points ahead of second-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with four games in hand.

— Brett Harrison scored twice against Belleville, including one in the opening 27 seconds of the first period.

— Georgii Merkulov had two assists on Friday and one on Sunday.

— Matej Blumel had a goal and an assist against Belleville and two assists against Springfield.

— Patrick Brown had an assist on Saturday and a goal on Sunday.

— With scores against Belleville and Springfield, Riley Tufte is up to 22 goals. Only eight players in the AHL have more goals than he does.

— Providence scored twice in 24 seconds in the last minute of the second period against Belleville.

— Mike DiPietro stopped Belleville’s Lassi Thomson on a penalty shot on Friday.

— The P-Bruins are second in the league on the penalty kill at 85.4 percent.

BAD

— Fabian Lysell’s careless turnover against Belleville led directly to a shorthanded goal for the Senators on Friday night. Lysell has been held without a point in nine of his last 10 games. He didn’t have a shot on goal on either Saturday or Sunday.

— Providence was outshot, 19-5, in the second period in Springfield and gave up three goals, including two in 38 seconds.

— Mike DiPietro, the AHL’s top goalie, had a difficult first period on Sunday, allowing three goals on 12 shots.

— The P-Bruins lost two in a row for the first time this season.

UGLY

— Injured: Simon Zajicek 

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