By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter / X @BlackAndGold277
Last night, the American Hockey League Providence Bruins snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the Utica Comets 3-2 on the road at the Adirondack Bank Center in Utica, New York. Providence continues to have a roller coaster 2024-25 regular season, sitting in the seventh position in the Atlantic Division with a 9-10-2-0 and 20 points. The top minor-pro affiliate of the National Hockey League, Boston Bruins have a home record of 5-5-2 and a road record of 4-5-0 and 4-4-2 in their last ten games.
Kicking off the scoring for Providence in this game was forward Georgii Merkulov, who scored his fourth goal of the season in the first period at the 3:10 mark, assisted by forward Matt Poitras and forward Vinni Lettieri. Merkulov’s fourth of the season extends his point streak to two games, and he now has 16 points in 18 games this year.
The second Bruins goal of the game came from big forward Riley Tufte, who scored a power-play goal with four seconds to go in the opening frame, with helpers going to forward Fabian Lysell and defenseman Drew Bavaro. This was Tufte’s third power-play goal of the year, and he is tied with forward Vinni Lettieri for the team lead in this special teams category. Tufte now has 5-2-7 numbers in 13 games played this season.
The final Providence Bruins goal of the game came at the 14:41 mark of the second period when forward Matt Poitras scored on the power-play assisted by forward Merkulov and defenseman Ian Mitchell. This was the first career goal for Boston Bruins prospect Poitras, who has been playing much better as of late and has 1-6-7 numbers in nine games since joining the NHL Bruins AHL affiliate. With a goal and an assist last night vs. Utica, Poitras now has his first point streak of the season as he has two helpers in the B’s previous game vs. the Springfield Thunderbird in a 3-2 loss back on December 1st, 2024, at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence, Rhode Island.
Goaltender Brandon Bussi got the start on the road last night, stopping 18 of 20 Utica Comets shots. This was the third victory of the season for the undrafted netminder from the state of New York. So far this season, the 6′-5″, 218-pound goaltender has a record of 3-6-0 with a 3.40 goals-against-average and a .876 save percentage in nine games played this season.
Providence is back at it tonight when they face the visiting Bridgeport Islanders at the AMP at 7:05 pm. Bridgeport currently sits in the last position in the Atlantic Division with a 5-13-2-2 record with 14 points. The top minor-pro affiliate of the NHL’s New York Islanders has not had a regulation victory in the last four games, and they are 4-5-2 on the road this year. So far this season, in three games, Providence has a 3-0-0-0 record against the Islanders, and that winning streak against Bridgeport could continue tonight in front of the Providence faithful.
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