By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter / X @BlackAndGold277
The Providence Bruins have played two games into the 2024-25 American Hockey League season, with last weekend’s action resulting in a 1-1 record to start the year. Over the week, Providence head coach Ryan Mougenel and assistants Matt Thomas and Trent Whitfield practiced the NHL Boston Bruins’ top minor-pro affiliate hard all week to fine-tune their game, especially in all three zones, preaching a better all-around defensive effort.
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The Providence club has given up seven goals through two regular-season games while scoring five. I know it’s early in this campaign, but moving forward, the focus needs to gravitate toward better zone entries and puck possession. This weekend, the Providence team needs to take advantage of the Springfield team, which sits in sixth place in the Atlantic and has its own issues on the defensive side of the puck. Springfield has given up 11 goals in three games while scoring nine.
Providence travels to the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the Thunderbirds have a home record of 1-1. The Bird’s last game at home resulted from a 4-1 loss to the visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Springfield has scored four goals and given up five against visiting opponents this season. The Bruins, on the other hand, need to carry the momentum from their only other road game this season when they faced the Bridgeport Islanders a week ago, beating the New York Islanders affiliate at the Total Mortgage Arena 3-2.
Last season, the Providence team played the Thunderbirds 12 times, with a winning record of 8-3-1-0. During the 2023-24 season, the Bruins went 3-3 at MassMutual, as that building has been a thorn in Providence’s side in the last few years.
The Bruins, while a work in progress, have seen several players contribute offensively. When you think about the prospects in the Bruins system, you’d think names like Fabian Lysell or Georgii Merkulov would be mentioned more from the heavy hitters that cover the B’s affiliate, but it’s players like defenseman Jordan Oesterle, who leads Providence in points followed by veteran forward Vinni Lettieri who leads the team in goals with two are garnering a majority of the news.
Special teams for the Providence club have been otherwise underwhelming and are another factor in the game that I can see changing for the better soon. The Bruins, so far on the power play, sit in the 21st spot in the league rankings, and on the penalty kill, sit in 17th while playing with a man down. Again, Springfield is not that much of a better team concerning the standings or special teams, so these two weekend games could be defensive lockdowns for one or the other, a disastrous breakdown.
This will be the first game for veteran forward Partick Brown and his new letter on his jersey as he was named Providence team Captain for the 2024-25 regular season. Many players who’ve had the opportunity to make NHL debuts lately have mentioned Patrick as a consummate leader and a veteran who younger players can lean on for advice on and off the ice. Providence didn’t have a team captain all of last year; instead, it spread the knowledge around the room from several veterans who’ve been through the rigors of the AHL and NHL.
The puck drops tonight from the MassMutual Center at 7:05 p.m. and can be seen via a subscription to the AHLTV on the FloHockey streaming service. If you’d like more information about FloHockey and the many ways to view countless levels of developmental hockey, please click HERE.
Tomorrow afternoon’s contest, set for 3 p.m. at the Amica Mutual Pavilion, can also be seen by streaming on the FloHockey platform. If you’re in the Providence, Rhode Island area and interested in home game tickets vs. Springfield or future games, please click Here.
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