By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter / X @BlackAndGold277
After going 4-1 on the recent road trip, the Providence Bruins returned home to Amica Mutual Pavilion and dropped an Atlantic Division battle to the visiting Springfield Thunderbirds 3-1 this afternoon. Last night, the Bruins beat Springfield on the road at the MassMutual Center 4-3 in overtime, but today, they couldn’t muster up a full game effort against the Birds.
The only goal of the game for Providence came via a one-timer from forward Georgii Merkulov, who tied the game with a power play goal midway through the first period, tying the game at one apiece. After Merkulov’s seventh of the season on the man-advantage, assisted by defenseman Christian Wolanin, Springfield locked the game down regardless of Providence’s 46 shots on Thunderbirds netminder Vadim Zherenko.
Providence goaltender Michael DiPietro suffered his second straight loss in net, stopping 13 of 15 shots. The 26-year-old Windsor, Ontario native is now 9-4-0 on the season with a 2.08 goals-against-average and .925 save percentage. In his last six games, the former Vancouver Canucks draft pick is 2-4-0 with a GAA of 1.73 and a .905 Save%. These recent struggles are not solely due to goaltending, as Michael and fellow crease tandem member Simon Zajicek have been fantastic all year. Sometimes you can’t win them all, especially when everyone in front of you isn’t pulling their own weight.
After returning home for one game this afternoon, the Providence Bruins are back on the road with a trip to the Keystone State with two games against the Hershey Bears and one against Atlantic Division-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The first game of the upcoming road trip kicks off this Wednesday night at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania, and again on Friday night in Chocolate Town. The final game of the trip is an hour and 45-minute journey northeast to the Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre against the Pens.
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