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Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins week

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Fraser Minten scored a natural hat trick in Springfield on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)

When all was said and done, it turned out to be a decent week for the Providence Bruins.

Playing on the road without three of their top players – Patrick Brown, Vinni Lettieri and Ian Mitchell, all of whom are up with the Boston Bruins — the P-Bruins earned three out of six points.

They started the week in Toronto, where they dropped a 4-2 decision to the Marlies. Moving on to Rochester on Friday, Providence lost to the Americans in a shootout, 4-3. In Springfield on Sunday afternoon, they played a very strong game at both ends and headed home with a much-needed 4-1 win.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Playing his third game with Providence, 20-year-old center Fraser Minten had an afternoon to remember on Sunday. He scored a natural hat trick and assisted on Riley Duran’s goal.

— Billy Sweezey made a pretty pass to set up Minten on Minten’s second goal against the T-Birds.

— Providence finished the weekend at 33-19-4-3 and 73 points. They are in third place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the second-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and one point ahead of the fourth-place Charlotte Checkers. The Hershey Bears are first with 80 points.

— The power play continues to produce. The P-Bruins scored a power play goal in each of their three games.

— The penalty kill is up to fourth in the AHL at 85.2 percent.

— Matt Poitras  had an assist in Toronto, two in Rochester and one in Springfield. Three of the four helpers came on the power play.

— Fabian Lysell scored a nice goal for his 11th of the season in Toronto.

— Jeffrey Viel scored twice before the game was 11 minutes old in Rochester. Both goals were assisted by Tyler Pitlick and Jake Gaudet. Acquired on loan from Cleveland, Gaudet turned in good games on Friday and Sunday.

BAD

— They squandered a two-goal lead in Rochester and were outshot, 21-7, in the second period.

— Providence allowed a goal 30 seconds into the second period in Toronto.

— With the goalie pulled on Friday, Providence couldn’t hit the open net on Friday and the Amerks promptly took the puck to the other end and tied the game.

— A quick whistle by referee Johnathan Daniels cost Oliver Wahlstrom a goal against the Thunderbirds.

UGLY

— Injured: John Farinacci

Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins weekend

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Brandon Bussi, left, and Michael DiPietro celebrates Providence’s overtime win on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)

For a while on Sunday, it looked like the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were going to run the Providence Bruins right out of their own building.

The Pens scored three goals in 48 seconds in the opening minutes at the AMP.

That’s when Providence coach Ryan Mougenel called timeout.

Captain Patrick Brown did most of the talking.

“Brownie hit the nail on the head. He just said it’s not good enough,” Mougenel said.

The P-Bruins trailed, 4-1, at the end of the first period, but they clawed their way back into the game, eventually sending it to overtime.

With time winding down in extra time, Brown muscled the puck to the net and Georgii Merkulov popped in the rebound with 0.7 left for an exhilarating 5-4 victory.

“It says a lot about our leadership group. We were pretty emotional after the first and it’s an amazing response. It’s a decision by our leaders in how to play and showing the young guys how to do it,” said Mougenel.

“Brown really shows the guys the way. He was unbelievable today.”

Sunday’s win put an exclamation point on a weekend in which the P-Bruins earned four out of six points.

They beat the Utica Comets, 4-2, at home on Friday and then lost, 6-5, on the road to the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, setting the stage for Sunday’s memorable finish.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— The P-Bruins finished the weekend with a record of 29-17-4-1. They are tied for second with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 63 points, four behind the first-place Hershey Bears in the Atlantic Division.

— You can’t execute a three-man rush better than Jeffrey Viel, Tyler Pitlick and Brown, the goal scorer, did on Providence’s first score in Hartford.

— It was a good weekend for the power play, which went 2 for 4 on Friday, 1 for 5 on Saturday and 1 for 4 on Sunday.

— The penalty kill was a perfect 8 for 8, including holding Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s best-in-the-league power play off the board on a major penalty on Sunday.

— Brown has a six-game point streak. He had a goal and an assist on Friday, two goals on Saturday and two assists on Sunday.

— Frederic Brunet assisted on Providence’s last two goals on Sunday.

— Vinni Lettieri had a goal and an assists on Friday, two goals on Saturday and an assist on Sunday.

— Tyler Pitlick scored a goal against Utica and had three assists against Hartford.

— Billy Sweezey scored his first goal of the season on Sunday.

— Ian Mitchell was a standout on Friday, scoring the game-winner on a third-period power play and adding two assists.

— Max Jones was around it all day against the Penguins with two goals on five shots.

— Joey Abate made a good pass to Trevor Kuntar, who roofed it for a goal on Saturday.

BAD

— It wasn’t the best weekend for goals-against averages and save percentage as the P-Bruins gave up an uncharacteristic 12 goals in 3 games.

— Providence yielded a goal with three seconds left in the first period in Hartford.

— A Brandon Bussi misplay handed Hartford’s Nate Sucese a gift goal in the first period on Saturday.

— Jackson Edward (minus-three) and Frederic Brunet (minus-two) had a tough night in Hartford. Edward is minus-six in his last seven games.

UGLY

— Allowing three goals in 48 seconds, as Providence did in the first period on Sunday, is the definition of ugly.

— Injured/sick: Mason Millman

Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins weekend

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There have been bumps along the way, but the Providence Bruins reached the AHL All-Star break in good shape.

After struggling early in the season, they are 24-14-4-1 with 29 games left in the regular season.

With 53 points, they are tied for second in the Atlantic Division with the Charlotte Checkers, a point ahead of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. As expected, the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears are first with 61 points.

With two of their top players, Vinni Lettieri and Michael Callahan, on recall with Boston, Providence played two games on the road against the Cleveland Monsters over the weekend.

They won Friday’s game, 4-2, and lost on Saturday, 3-2.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— Michael DiPietro stopped 27 of 29 shots in Friday’s win. His record is 16-5-4 and he is first in the AHL with a .932 save percentage and 1.91 goals-against average.

— Patrick Brown scored twice and added an assist on Friday.

— Riley Tufte brought his big man’s game with a Gordie Howe Hat Trick in Friday’s win. He assisted on Providence’s first goal and sniped his 12th goal of the year late in the first period. Later on he bulldozed Cleveland goalie Jett Greaves and then dropped Max McCue in the fight that followed.

— They went 7-3-1 in the month of January.

— The P-Bruins scored in the first minute of both weekend games, Patrick Brown at 24 seconds on Friday and Joey Abate 50 seconds in on Saturday.

— Providence scored a power-play goal in both games.

— Ian Mitchell’s goal on Friday, off a pass from Georgii Merkulov, was his second game-winner of the season.

— In the last minute on Friday, Tyler Pitlick could have put the puck in the empty net himself, but generously slid it over to Patrick Brown, who scored his second of the game.

— Riley Duran didn’t touch the puck so he did not get credit for an assist on Brown’s first-minute goal on Friday, but Duran’s strong forecheck pressured Cleveland into a turnover that led to the goal.

— They are 18-0-2-0 when leading after two periods.

— Frederick Brunet was plus-three on Friday and is now seventh in the league with plus-18.

— Joey Abate’s goal on Saturday was his second in two games.

BAD

— The P-Bruins allowed the Monsters to tie Friday’s game with a goal just 37 seconds into the third period.

— They let a 2-0 lead get away from them on Saturday.

— Trailing by a goal, they shot themselves in the foot with penalties at the end of Saturday’s loss. Forty seconds after Riley Tufte was whistled for a four-minute high-sticking infraction at 15:12, Providence was called for too many men on the ice at 15:52.

UGLY

— Providence is 0-10-2-0 when trailing after two periods.

Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins weekend

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The Providence Bruins headed home from their weekend in Hershey, Pa., with only one out of four points.

In their first game of the trip on Saturday night, the P-Bruins were on the cusp of being run out of the Giant Center in the first period as they fell behind by three goals. To their credit, they stopped the bleeding and went to work. They chipped away and tied the game in the third period and earned a point after losing, 4-3, in a shootout.

On Sunday, Providence held its own for just over a period before they were blitzed by the Bears, 5-1.

Here’s the good, bad and ugly.

GOOD

— The P-Bruins built some character with their comeback on Saturday night. Captain Patrick Brown and Vinni Lettieri put on a master class in veteran leadership as the team rallied from three goals down. Credit to Brown for going right after Matthew Strome after the Hershey winger elbowed Matt Poitras. Big props to Mike DiPietro for locking it down as his teammates clawed their way back to even.

— Brown scored an important power play goal on Saturday to put the Bruins on the board with 48 seconds left in the first period. The goal gave them a positive to build on instead of going to the room facing a 0-3 deficit. On Sunday, Brown set up a Max Jones goal that gave Providence the lead 80 seconds into the game. Brown has points in four straight games.

— Riley Tufte scored his 10th goal on Saturday.

— Vinni Lettieri’s 12th goal of the year tied the game in the third period on Sunday. He continues to lead the team with 12-20-32 in 31 games.

BAD

— Sunday’s game spun away from the P-Bruins went they allowed two goals within 30 seconds in the second period.

— They could muster only 19 shots on Sunday. It made for an easy night for Hershey’s backup goalie, Clay Stevenson.

UGLY

— Injured/sick: Ian Mitchell, Riley Duran, Tyler Pitlick

Good, bad & ugly from Providence Bruins weekend

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John Farinacci celebrates with teammates after scoring in the first period against Hartford (Photo courtesy of Providence Bruins)

The Providence Bruins only played twice last weekend and they won both games.

They started with a 4-1 victory against the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday night, then beat the Hartford Wolf Pack, 4-1, on Saturday night. Both games were on the road.

The month of December was good for the P-Bruins as they went 9-2-1, earning 19 of 24 points. Not too shabby, considering the way they struggled at times in the opening weeks of the season.

Here’s the good, bad & ugly.

GOOD

— As 2025 starts, the Providence Bruins have a record of 17-11-3-0. They are tied for second in the Atlantic Division with 37 points, 4 behind the first-place Hershey Bears.

— Fabian Lysell had one of his best games of the season in Bridgeport. He scored a goal, earned a primary assist on two other goals and was plus-3. The next night in Boston, Lysell played his first NHL game for the Bruins and didn’t look out of place in a win over Columbus.

— Riley Tufte had his most productive game of the season with 2-1-3 and plus-3 against Bridgeport. He is second on the team with 9 goals.

— John Farinacci had 3 assists and was plus-3 in the win at Bridgeport. The next night in Hartford he scored 1:40 into the game and set up a Max Jones goal early in the second period.

— Matt Poitras had an empty net goal and an assist in Hartford. He has 8-10-18 in 19 games.

— Providence received good goaltending in both games. Michael DiPietro stopped 31 of 32 shots on Friday and Brandon Bussi kicked out 36 of 37 on Saturday, including 15 in the first period.

— Billy Sweezey made quick work of Hartford’s 6-foot-7 Dylan Roobroeck in a late-game bout on Saturday.

— Both Frederic Brunet and Ian Mitchell were plus-3 against Bridgeport.

BAD

— Jeffrey Viel is tied for the league lead in minor penalties with 22.

— Providence’s power play on the road is 27th in the AHL at 13 percent – 7 for 54.

— They are 0-8-1-0 when trailing after two periods.

UGLY

— Injured: Ian Mitchell