A quarter of the way into his first full season as a pro, Jack Studnicka is in a good place.

The 20-year-old center is playing big minutes for the Providence Bruins and his game is trending upward.

With goals in four of the last five games, Studnicka is tied with Paul Carey and Alex Petrovic for the team scoring lead with 13 points (6 goals and 7 assists) in 18 games.

“He’s been good,’’ said coach Jay Leach. “The workload we’re giving him, for a 20-year-old kid, it’s impressive that he’s been able to handle all that. He plays in every situation. Obviously, he’s getting a tough matchup most nights.’’

Making the jump from the Ontario Hockey League requires some adjustment, but Studnicka is feeling more comfortable every day.

“It took a couple of games to get used to the schedule, the speed, the maintenance. I feel like I’m in full swing now and playing to my ability,’’ Studnicka said after practice on Thursday.

“I’ve been trying to come to the rink every game and work as hard as I can and do the details and kind of let the offense take care of itself. It’s nice to see that paying off and hopefully I can continue that going forward.

“I’m really trying to protect the puck down low, create some offensive zone time with the puck on my stick, kind of trying to feel out how teams in this league play in their D zone. Spin off guys, create space and look for an open play, be a playmaker and shoot when I can,’’ he said.

Studnicka is among the team leaders in ice time for forwards, averaging from 18 to 21 minutes per game, according to Leach.

“The No. 1 thing for him is he competes. Loves playing the game. He’s a really smart player. He’s shown that ability to find guys – I don’t know if I want to call it a next-level play — but he does have that ability to really see the ice well and make a play that I can’t say I’ve seen from everyone. That does set him apart,’’ said Leach.

“You can clearly tell he’s 20 years old and just growing into his body. We have to be careful with our expectations with someone like that.’’

Studnicka’s dad, who played for Maine in the 1980s, has visited twice. His mom is scheduled for a visit next month.

“This is kind of my first year living on my own. Me and Cooper Zech are living together, trying to cook, put some recipes together. We’re both in the same boat, trying to put some weight on, some good weight. We’re learning how to cook and, in our down time, watching hockey, watching movies, what any normal kid does,’’ he said.

As he works on his own game in the AHL, Studnicka naturally is paying attention to what’s going on with the parent club.

“I like to watch their games, but it’s tough when we’re playing and they’re playing (at the same time). I don’t go and rewatch or anything like that, but if they are on, I’m watching the game, for sure,’’ he said.

The goal, of course, is to be playing in, not watching, those NHL games, whether it’s later this season or next.

“No rush, in my mind. When called upon, I think I’m going to be ready, mentally and physically,’’ he said.

The Providence Bruins won one and lost one in a pair of games against the first-in-the-AHL Hartford Wolf Pack over the weekend.

At home on Friday, the P-Bruins looked to be in good shape with a two-goal lead and three minutes left, but the Wolf Pack tied the game with their goalie on the bench. Providence scored twice in the shootout to earn a 4-3 win.

“We didn’t close it the way we wanted to,’’ said coach Jay Leach, “but coming away with two points against a good team was great.’’

At Hartford on Saturday, Providence jumped out to a two-goal lead six minutes into the game before giving up five straight and losing, 5-2.

“It was probably one of the better games we’ve had for the first two periods. In the third, I don’t know whether we expended all our energy in the first two periods generating chances, but we did not have the push that we were looking for and, ultimately, it cost us at least a point,’’ said Leach.

“We’ve got a lot of guys playing a lot of different roles that they probably never played before. They’re playing a lot of minutes, which is great. We’re certainly not a finished product.’’

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— After losing five home games in a row, the P-Bruins pulled out a win at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center on Friday.

— Scott Conway scored his first AHL goal on Friday, a nifty shorthanded tally to finish off a two on one.

— Jack Studnicka had a strong weekend and now has 6 points in the last 6 games. On Friday, he set up Conway’s goal while on the penalty kill in the first period, scored a power-play goal in the second period and then scored in the shootout. He had a power play goal on Saturday.

— Robert Lantosi scored a goal on Friday with a bomb from long range in the second period, then clinched the win with a shootout goal.

— Max Lagace stopped 35 shots, plus three more in the shootout, in Friday’s win. He is tied for third in the AHL with seven wins and his .934 save percentage is seventh in the league.

— Brendan Gaunce made a nice pass to Ryan Fitzgerald for the P-Bruins’ first goal in Hartford. Fitzgerald assisted on Providence’s second goal.

BAD

— Oskar Steen has gone 11 games without a goal.

— Kyle Keyser allowed goals on two of the first five shots in Hartford.

— After scoring twice in the first six minutes on Saturday, the P-Bruins allowed the Wolf Pack to tie the score before the game was 11 minutes old.

UGLY

— After Hartford pulled its goalie for an extra attacker late in Friday’s game, the P-Bruins gave up two goals in a minute as the Wolf Pack sent to game to OT.

— Injured: Chris Breen, Anton Blidh, Brendan Woods, Kyle Keyser, Dan Vladar

It was a bumpy weekend for the Providence Bruins.

They earned only two of a possible six points, finishing with a pair of home losses in which they scored a total of just one goal.

Things started on a positive note with a solid 4-1 road win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday, but then went downhill at home with a 2-1 loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack on Sunday and a 2-0 loss to Bridgeport on Monday.

They’ve won just one of six games at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Coach Jay Leach didn’t pull any punches after Monday’s loss.

“Worst game we’ve played all year, by far, from the drop of the puck. The most disappointing thing for me is they wanted it way more than we wanted it. If we were not aware of their desperation, we found out in the first three shifts of the game — and we didn’t respond,’’ he said.

“That’s where I’m disappointed. It was our first three in three (weekend) and we can go through all that stuff. I’d really rather not focus on any excuse. The facts are they wanted it more than we did and we’re going to have to learn from this and grow moving forward.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Brendan Gaunce scored a goal and added an assist in Bridgeport in his first game back from injury.

— The P-Bruins made a nifty three-way passing play for their first goal on Saturday night — Brendan Woods to Scott Conway to Joona Koppanen. Conway’s feed, in particular, was pretty.

— In his last three appearances, Max Lagace has stopped 98 of 101 shots for a .970 save percentage. Only two AHL goalies have more than his 6 wins.

— With 12 points in 15 games, Alex Petrovic leads all AHL defensemen in scoring.

— Providence has killed 36 penalties in a row. The PK, which was 31^st in the league on Oct. 20, is now 10^th at 86.5 percent.

— With 4-6-10 in 16 games, Jack Studnicka is fifth in the league in rookie scoring.

— With 6 goals on 23 shots, Peter Ceharik is scoring on 26.1 percent of his shots. Last season his shooting percentage was 10.5.

BAD

— Monday’s 2-0 loss to Bridgeport was the first time the P-Bruins have been blanked at home since Harri Sateri kicked out 30 shots in a 2-0 Springfield win on March 4, 2018.

— Providence has been shorthanded a league-high 74 times.

— Trent Frederic served an automatic one-game suspension after he instigated a fight with Bridgeport’s Kyle Burroughs in the last five minutes of Saturday’s game.

— The P-Bruins were outshot, 21-8, in the second period in Bridgeport.

UGLY

— With losses on Sunday and Monday, the P-Bruins are 1-4-0-1 at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center. That’s the worst home record in the league.

— Injured: Anton Blidh, Dan Vladar, Brendan Woods, Jakub Lauko.

The Providence Bruins will gladly take four out of six points on the road any time they can against three of the better teams in the Eastern Conference.

The P-Bruins went into Rochester on Wednesday night and beat the Americans, 4-3. On Friday, they handed the Utica Comets their first loss of the season, 2-0. Providence’s only loss of the week was in Hershey, a game in which they came from behind twice to tie it before the Bears prevailed, 5-3.

“We were tied at three going into the third period and it was right there for us,’’ said coach Jay Leach. “We did not step up our game, so it was a disappointing loss and one we’ll have to learn from.’’

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Max Lagace made 34 saves in shutting out Utica. One of them was a desperation glove stop while he was sprawled on the ice midway through the second period. He leads the AHL with three shutouts.

— Zach Senyshyn had strong games in Rochester and Utica. He scored against the Amerks on a beautiful setup by Cameron Hughes. In Utica, he beat a defender with a curl and drag and then roofed the puck for his third goal of the season.

— The P-Bruins went three for six on the power play against Rochester. They killed all 15 penalties during the three games.

— Cameron Hughes continued his fine two-way play. He had an assist in all three games.

— The line of Ryan Fitzgerald, Trent Frederic and Oskar Steen had an epic possession shift during the second period against Utica. They held onto the puck in the Comets’ end of the ice for one minute straight without giving it up.

— Paul Carey scored a pretty goal in Rochester that gave the P-Bruins some breathing room late in the game. He scored a goal in Hershey after an excellent pass from Jack Studnicka.

— Cameron Hughes and Jakub Zboril combined on a beautiful passing play that ended with Brendan Woods firing the puck into a nearly empty net for a goal in Hershey. Zboril had a strong game that night, notching his first goal of the season to go along with his assist.

— Joona Koppanen made a good play to score a wraparound goal against the Amerks.

— Peter Cehlarik had two assists in Rochester before being recalled again by Boston.

— Stick tap for Josiah Didier, who went to the defense of Pavel Shen after the rookie was kneed by Hershey’s Eric Burgdoerfer.

BAD

— Ahead by three goals in Rochester, the P-Bruins gave up two goals in 19 seconds in the first minute of the third period.

— You may not put any stock in plus-minus as an accurate indicator of effective play, but the numbers in Hershey weren’t pretty by any measure. Alex Petrovic, Trent Frederic and Ryan Fitzgerald were minus-three. Urho Vaakanainen, Oscar Steen and Cooper Zech were minus-two.

— In Hershey, the P-Bruins gave up two goals in 17 seconds in the first four minutes of the third period. They turned out to be the difference in the game.

— After giving up a shorthanded goal in Hershey, Providence is tied with five other teams in allowing a league-high three SH scores.

— The puck’s not going in for Trent Frederic. He has no goals through 13 games this season. Going back to last season, he has three goals in his last 24 games, and he scored all of them in one game.

— Providence was outshot, 14-2, in the first 11 minutes in Hershey.

— Ryan Fitzgerald sat out the third period as a precaution on Saturday after he was accidently clotheslined by linesman Bob Goodman.

UGLY

— Injured: Brendan Gaunce, Dan Vladar, Anton Blidh

The results were mixed for the Providence Bruins last week as they won a road game, lost in a shootout at home, then dropped a one-goal decision in regulation time at home. They ended up with three of a possible six points.

The P-Bruins started the week strong, turning in their most complete performance of the season in a 4-0 win in Bridgeport on Tuesday.

“Probably our best game to date,’’ coach Jay Leach said. “I thought our start was terrific. We were on our toes, we got pucks behind them and got in on the forecheck.’’

On Saturday, Providence earned a point when they lost to Laval, 3-2, in a shootout. They lost to Belleville, 4-3, on Sunday.

“We were certainly in the games, but I’m not going to sit here and say we deserved to win both of them, either. We have our work cut out for us in cutting down some mistakes and chances against,’’ Leach said after Sunday’s loss.

“We’ve lost a couple of bodies and we’re going through that phase right now where we’re playing some younger players that haven’t really experienced tight games like this. It’s a learning process.’’

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Peter Cehlarik continued to put up points. He scored goals against Bridgeport and Laval, giving him six goals in six games and earning a callup to Boston on Sunday.

— Kyle Keyser played very well in Saturday’s shootout loss to Laval, making some big stops late in regulation time and in overtime. He came on in relief of Max Lagace on Sunday and stopped 20 of 21 shots.

— Paul Carey scored goals on Saturday and Sunday.

— Alex Petrovic tossed some big-league sauce to Carey for a five-on-three goal against Belleville. Petrovic has 1-7-8 in 10 games.

— Lagace stopped all 30 shots in Bridgeport. He’s the only goalie in the league with two shutouts.

— Ryan Fitzgerald scored twice in three games. Chris Breen made a nice play to put the puck on Fitzgerald’s stick at the edge of the crease for a score on Sunday.

— Zach Senyshyn played his best game of the season on Sunday. He made a good play off the wall in the first period, feeding Jakub Lauko for a goal. It was Senyshyn’s first point of the season.

“He was outstanding. Right from the get-go he was skating, won puck battles, created in the offensive zone. On the PP he was recovering pucks for us. Hey, if he can play like that it’s a great thing for us and a terrific thing for him,’’ Leach said.

— Robert Lantosi had a goal and an assist in Bridgeport.

— The penalty kill was better, allowing one goal in 14 shorthanded situations.

BAD

— I enjoy a good fight as much as anyone – maybe more – but Sunday’s bout between Trent Frederic and Belleville’s Joe LaBate, as crowd-pleasing as it was, should have been broken up by the linesmen before Frederic buckled LaBate with a big right hand. And once that damage was done, an official should have been at the side of the woozy and helmet-less LaBate in case he fell after he got back to his feet. Why LaBate was sent to the penalty box instead of to the dressing room to be checked out is a mystery.

— Lagace didn’t have a whole lot of help, but he allowed three goals on the first six shots in the first period on Sunday before Keyser took over.

— The P-Bruins have been shorthanded 44 times in 10 games. Only Springfield (45) has been on the PK more often.

— Providence has a difficult road stretch coming up. The next four games are at Rochester, Utica, Hershey and Bridgeport.

UGLY

— Injured: Brendan Gaunce, Anton Blidh, Dan Vladar.

There are going to be weekends like this when you have a team with a dozen new players.

One night you’re up, as Providence College was on Friday after a 6-2 win at Boston College, where the Friars have had all kinds of trouble through the years.

Then the next night you play well at times but lose in the end. That was the case in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime defeat at home to UMass Lowell.

“You’ve got to get more than two points in a weekend if you want to be a good team in this league,’’ said coach Nate Leaman.

Five quicks hits from the weekend:

FRIARS FADE

— PC was the better team in the first 40 minutes on Saturday, but Lowell pushed back hard with 19 shots in the third period and went home with a well-earned OT win.

“An emotional game the night before and then killing all those penalties, we definitely ran out of gas,’’ said Leaman.

“We took some dumb penalties. Then in the third period we did a really poor job of exiting our zone. We kept flipping it to them, and we were doing that (Friday) night, too. That’s a lot of youth there.’’

LACKEY’S STRONG

Michael Lackey is off to a fine start for the Friars with a .941 save percentage, a 1.63 goals-against average and two shutouts.

“I thought he had a great third period (on Saturday), held the fort when they made a good push. He’s arguably our best player this weekend,’’ said Leaman.

WHAT BROWN CAN DO

— In Matt Brown, Lowell has a freshman with a scorer’s touch. He had a goal, an assist and seven shots on Saturday.

His goal was a bomb from the faceoff dot, then he made the game-winner happen by firing a shot from the wing, low and on Lackey’s pads, that left the PC goalie with little choice but to boot the puck onto the stick of Carl Berglund, who put it in the net.

Brown isn’t big and his skating could be better, but it looks like he has the potential to be a point producer in Hockey East.

McDONALD COMES THROUGH

— Quietly, freshman defenseman Cam McDonald has been good for the Friars in the early going.

He’s not physically imposing at 5-foot-9, 170 pounds, but he moves the puck with confidence and he gets his shot through. His blast from the point beat BC’s Spencer Knight for what turned out to be the game-winner on Friday night.

“He’s a ballplayer, he’s an Alaska kid. The thing I’m really pleased with is that he just keeps getting better, keeps growing,’’ Leaman said.

UP AND DOWN

— PC blew out Maine in the opener, then stumbled in an OT loss to Holy Cross. They bounced back with a sweep at St. Lawrence and Clarkson and a good win at BC, followed by the loss to Lowell.

“I guess that’s part of being a young team. We’re just going to keep taking two steps forward, one step back,’’ Leaman said.

“(Lowell’s) first two goals were hellacious turnovers by us. Their second goal, we just get done killing a penalty and (the PC players) have been in the zone for a minute and ten seconds and a guy (Patrick Moynihan) coming out of the box gets the puck and he’s got to get it deep so we can get a change. He tries to go one on one, we turn it over and they made us pay.

“Hopefully we can learn from that stuff and grow from that stuff, but it’s certainly frustrating.’’

The Providence Bruins earned three out of six points during their three-game road trip to Laval and Belleville.

They started the trip by falling behind by four goals in the first period on Wednesday in Laval. They came all the way back to tie the game with 18 seconds left before losing in the shootout, 5-4. On Friday, they trailed, 2-0, in the first period against the Rocket, came back to tie the game, then gave up a goal midway through the third period and lost, 3-2. On Saturday, Providence jumped out to a two-goal lead, allowed Belleville to tie it, then scored four straight on the way to a 7-4 victory.

“We started well and responded to (Friday night’s) poor play,’’ coach Jay Leach said after Saturday’s win. “We got pucks behind them, got in on the foreheck and got bodies to the net. That really kind of fueled our game from the start.’’

The P-Bruins ended the weekend tied for second place in the Atlantic Division, two points behind Hartford. Only five teams in the AHL have more points than Providence.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the week’s games.

GOOD

— The P-Bruins mounted a tremendous comeback from four goals down in the first game in Laval. Peter Cehlarik, who had his face mashed into the boards in the first period, put on a cage and came back to score twice. Paul Carey and Brendan Gaunce had 1-1-2.

— Stick tap for Chris Breen for fighting Michael McCarron, who boarded Cehlarik.

— Providence outshot Laval, 19-8, in the second period on Wednesday.

— Anders Bjork continued his strong play. He leads Providence in scoring with 3-5-8 in 7 games.

— Kyle Keyser earned his first win as a pro in Belleville.

— After going pointless in his first five games, Trent Frederic assisted on two goals in each of the last two games.

— Ryan Fitzgerald and Alex Petrovic had a goal and an assist each on Friday.

— Wiley Sherman contributed two assists in his first game of the season against the Sens.

— Jack Studnicka, Cameron Hughes and Robert Lantosi scored their first goals of the season in Belleville.

BAD

— Providence started very slowly in both games in Laval. They gave up four goals in 5:53 in the first period on Wednesday, then they fell behind by two goals in the first period on Friday.

— A bad call by referee Dan Kelly in Belleville wiped out a spectacular passing play off the rush between Jakub Zboril, Trent Frederic and Jakub Lauko that ended with Lauko firing the puck into the net for what should have been a goal. But Kelly washed out the goal and sent Lauko to the box for slashing, apparently believing that Lauko broke the stick of Sens defenseman Hubert Labrie. What actually happened was that Labrie snapped his own stick when he slashed Lauko’s stick.

— All six Providence shooters failed to score in the shootout in Laval.

— The P-Bruins drove some 470 miles through the night to get home from Belleville at 7:15 a.m. on Sunday.

UGLY

— The unpenalized hit on Friday by Laval’s Michael McCarron that knocked out Brendan Gaunce was scary. It’s mind-boggling that referees Jim Curtin and Cory Syvret didn’t hand McCarron a five-minute major for interference and a game misconduct. It will be just as mind-boggling if the AHL doesn’t suspend McCarron for multiple games.

— The penalty kill is struggling in a big way. Providence allowed Belleville to convert four out of five opportunities on Saturday. That continued a slump that has seen the PK give up nine goals in the last 18 kills. The PK is last in the league at 70 percent.

— Injured: Brendan Gaunce, Zach Senyshyn, Dan Vladar, Anton Blidh.

It was one up and one down for the Providence Bruins over the weekend.

They scored a goal in the final minute to beat a very good Rochester Americans team on Saturday night, then dropped a 5-2 decision to the Springfield Thunderbirds on Sunday. Both games were at home.

“I really liked our first period. I thought it was actually probably our best first period of the season as far as playing the game that we want to play,’’ coach Jay Leach said of Sunday’s loss.

But things didn’t go as well in the second and third periods.

“We have some work to do. We’re a young group and we’ll have to learn from games like this, where even if you play well, you don’t get what you want coming out of a period. You’ve got to readjust. You’ve got to be OK with that and just keep pushing through. I thought as it went along we got frustrated.’’

The P-Bruins finished the weekend in second place in the Atlantic Division with six points, one point behind the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Anders Bjork had a good weekend, playing two more excellent three-zone games. He scored a goal against Rochester and a goal and an assist against Springfield. As of Sunday night he led the P-Bruins and was among the league leaders in points with 3-2-5 in four games.

— Max Lagace made 30 saves in the win against Rochester. He is 2-0 with a .967 save percentage.

— Oskar Steen didn’t get much done for the first 59 minutes on Saturday, but then he buried the game-winning goal in the final minute after a smart setup by Ryan Fitzgerald.

— Back from an injury, Peter Cehlarik scored a goal in his first game of the season on Sunday.

— Jakub Lauko and Steen scored their first AHL goals and their teammates made sure that they got the puck as a keepsake.

— Jeremy Lauzon had a good weekend, carrying the puck and defending with conviction.

— The home opener on Saturday drew 9,722 fans, the biggest crowd in the AHL on a night when there were 14 games.

BAD

— The P-Bruins went 1 for 7 on the power play on Sunday, including four straight fruitless power plays in the third period.

— They’ve been shorthanded 18 times in four games. Only five teams have been shorthanded more often.

— Providence was outshot, 16-8, in the second period against the Thunderbirds.

— The penalty kill gave up three goals in six shorthanded situations in the two games.

— Zach Senyshyn and Trent Frederic are off to a less-than-ideal start with 0-0-0 in four games.

— There were two fights on the weekend and Providence didn’t win either one.

— Providence’s next four games are on the road, with two in Laval, then Belleville and Bridgeport.

UGLY

— OK, this isn’t from the weekend, but the bus for Laval on Tuesday leaves at 6 a.m.

Perfect in Pennsylvania is a great way to start the season.

The Providence Bruins came home from season-opening road games against Lehigh Valley and Hershey with four out of four points.

They beat the Phantoms, 3-0, on Saturday and bested the Bears in overtime, 2-1, on Sunday.

“It was a gutsy road win,” said coach Jay Leach after Sunday’s victory. “We love these, especially early on. They’re great team builders. Those are two buildings (PPL Center & Giant Center) that are tough to play in and we were able to come out with four points. It was a heck of a weekend so we’re excited.’’

Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the first two games of the season.

GOOD

— Providence’s penalty kill was flawless, killing all seven penalties on Saturday and five more on Sunday.

— The goaltending was first-rate in both games. Max Lagace pitched a 28-save shutout at Lehigh Valley and Dan Vladar made 21 saves and gave up just one goal in Hershey. Both netminders made a number of terrific saves.

— Brendan Gaunce had a fine weekend. He scored a goal on Saturday, assisted on Ryan Fitzgerald’s goal and scored the winner in overtime on Sunday.

— Alex Petrovic made a smart play to make Gaunce’s OT goal happen.

— Anders Bjork had a goal and an assist in the win against Lehigh Valley.

— Oskar Steen made a perfect pass to Paul Carey for an insurance goal against the Phantoms.

— Jeremy Lauzon decisioned Garrett Pilon in the first bout of the season.

— Both of Providence’s games next weekend are at home, Saturday against Rochester and Sunday vs. Springfield.

BAD

— Providence has been shorthanded 12 times, tied with Stockton for the most in the AHL.

— The P-Bruins took three stick penalties late in the game in Hershey.

— Trent Frederic didn’t have a shot on goal in either game.

UGLY

— There are turnovers and then there are turnovers. The Jakub Zboril giveway that gifted Hershey its only goal on Sunday was hideous.

— Injured: Peter Cehlarik.

There are a lot of new faces in the Providence College lineup this season, but the result on Saturday looked familiar. Even with seven freshmen dressing, the Friars jumped on Maine with two goals in the first 4:35 and rolled to a 7-0 win.

Here are three thoughts on opening night:

— WHO’S IN NET?

I’d been pestering Nate Leaman for a couple weeks about who his starting goalie was going to be in Game 1. Of course, I kept waiting for him to say Michael Lackey. You know, the guy with four years at Harvard under his belt. But Leaman insisted repeatedly that he and his staff were evaluating each day’s practice and hadn’t decided.

In the end, he did go with Lackey, who was rock-solid in stopping all 29 Maine shots.

“He had an unbelievable practice Tuesday. It was the first time I walked off the ice and said, ‘We have a starter,’’’ Leaman said on Saturday night.

Lackey’s strong debut is “an unbelievable sign for us,’’ he said, pointing to two excellent saves in the second period when the Friars got sloppy and Maine showed signs of gaining some traction. “The team gets up at home and it’s point night,’’ he said.

“The thing is, your team can’t get arrogant in front of him. I thought that’s what we did when he made some of those saves,’’ Leaman said.

“He played a good game, let’s see if he can come back with another one. You can’t get arrogant off your first game, that’s what I told (the team) after the game.’’

— WHO’S GOING TO SCORE?

The Friars said goodbye to four of their top five scorers in the offseason – Josh Wilkins, Brandon Duhaime, Scott Conway and Kasper Bjorkqvist. That quartet totaled 63 goals last season.

Who is going to pick up the slack?

Start with the top line and Jack Dugan (39 points in 41 games last season) and Greg Printz (11 goals). They delivered on Saturday as Printz scored four goals and an assist and Dugan chipped in with a goal and three assists. Their center, freshman Parker Ford, recorded two assists. The line combined for 17 of PC’s 59 shots.

As for the second line, Tyce Thompson had a goal and two helpers and freshman Patrick Moynihan had two assists.

It wasn’t all good. Dugan went to the box alone for roughing after a scrum in the first period and was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and a misconduct in the third after he deposited the puck in the Maine net after an offside whistle.

“I was a little disappointed in a couple of the penalties, but outside of that our top line was pretty good. They had a good night tonight, but it’s a long season,’’ Leaman said.

— THREE FRESHMEN D?

The newcomers on defense – Max Crozier, Cam McDonald and Luke Johnson — got through their first game unscathed.

Crozier, playing with Mike Callahan in what could develop into a go-to pairing, had an assist and four shots.

“Crozier played a great game. He was really good with the puck. We kind of rode (captains Callahan and Spenser Young) a lot in that first period – our veterans guys – just because we wanted to acclimate those other guys a little bit,’’ said Leaman.

“In a league game, first game as a freshman, that’s not the easiest thing to worry about. They got a good taste of it. Fortunately, we were able to pull away a little bit, so they were able to get a lot of ice in the third. At the end of the day, those three have got to be a big part of us. We think all three have a real high ceiling.’’

It sounds like there were some butterflies before the game, understandably so.

“It was quiet in the locker room beforehand. With the new guys, as a coach you really don’t know what to expect because you don’t know how to read guys yet, whether they’re ready or they’re not.’’

On this night, at least, they were ready.

“It’s a process. On to Holy Cross,’’ Leaman said.