By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter / X @BlackAndGold277
The Providence Bruins were in action at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, last night, thrilling the 8,181 in attendance with a 6-4 win over the visiting Bridgeport Islanders. With the win over the Islanders, the Bruins extended their current winning streak to four games and added to an already impressive 25-7-0 record at home.
Providence is currently the best team in the American Hockey League with a 49-13-1 regular season record with 99 points. The Western Conference-leading Grand Rapids Griffins, who’ve been at the top of the league’s standings with Providence all season, got an overtime victory at home last night over the Chicago Wolves, keeping the Bruins to a three-point lead. Grand Rapids is not in action today, so with a win in today’s last home game at the AMP for Providence this weekend, the B’s could go five points ahead of the Griffins with a win over Springfield.
The victory over the Islanders last night was highlighted by a spectacular hat trick from forward Riley Tufte, the game’s first star. Also getting involved in the scoring in the win over Bridgeport was the first career professional goal from highly touted Bruins prospect James Hagens. Although he’s only played two professional games, Hagens has gotten better shift by shift and has been inserted into all situations early, which has been a key to success in this early pro developmental stage.
After being down to the Islanders 0-2 for half of the first period, Providence got a wakeup call, providing an impressive stretch of offense to create a gap on the scoreboard over the visiting Bridgeport team. The B’s got careless towards the end of the game, letting the Isles get closer in this game.
Providence forward Joey Abate got the Bruins offense going, scoring the B’s first goal at the 15:15 mark of the opening frame. Assisting on the Abate goal, which extended his point streak to five games, were defenseman Michael Callahan and forward Jake Schmaltz. With the helper, Schmaltz now has points in three straight games.
Late in the first period at the 18:38 mark, Providence would tie the game at two apiece courtesy of B’s forward Georgii Merkulov, who notched his 20th goal of the season. This is the third time in four professional years with the Bruins that Merkulov has hit the 20-goal mark in a particular season. The lone helper on Merk’s goal went to forward Matt Poitras, who extended his point streak to seven games.
Providence big man Riley Tufte was on a mission in the second period, scoring twice in the latter half of the middle frame. At the 13:47 mark, Tufte scored his 29th goal of the season, which was on the power play, and was assisted by forward and team Captain Patrick Brown and defenseman Christian Wolanin. With the assist on Tufte’s 29th, Brown snapped a season-long pointless streak that reached seven games. The second Tufte goal in the middle frame, his 30th, came at the 14:44 mark, and was assisted by Poitras, giving him 30 helpers on the year and his ninth multi-point game of the 2025-26 season.
In the third period, National Hockey League 2025 first-round selection James Hagens would get the. B’s fifth straight goal of the game, and first of his professional career, at the 8:26 mark on the power play. The assists on the milestone tally went to forward Tufte and defenseman Wolanin. In the middle of the final period, the Providence team would take its foot off the accelerator, letting Bridgeport try to get back in this game.
The Islanders would make the score 5-3 on the power play when Newburyport, Massachusetts native Cole Eiserman would get his first pro goal at the 12:53 mark. Tufte answered back at 14:44 with his hat trick goal, scoring his 31st of the year, a career high. The Islanders would get the game’s final goal from Cole McWard, but it wasn’t enough as the B’s captured their 49th victory. Bruins forward Tufte finished the game with three goals and one assist to give him his 14th multi-point game of the season, and continues to have a career AHL season.
Providence goaltender Michael got the start in goal on home ice last night, stopping 26 of 30 Islanders shots to extend his 2025-26 regular season record to 31-7-0 accompanied by a goals-against-average of 1.95 and save percentage of .930. DiPietro made some amazing saves in this game for the Providence win, regardless of not looking his best and giving up four goals. The former Vancouver Canucks draft pick is currently on a three-game winning streak.
The next up for the Providence team is this afternoon, as the top minor-pro affiliate of the Boston Bruins is back in action for the final back-to-back home game of this weekend, with a puck drop set for 3:05pm. The Springfield Thunderbirds visit the LaSalle Square venue in Providence, RI, as the seventh-ranked team in the Atlantic Division. Springfield is 13-17-2-1 on the road this season and 5-4-1 in their last ten games.
If you’d like to be in attendance for the Providence vs. Springfield game at the Amica Mutual Pavilion this afternoon, please check out the seat availability for today’s action and the rest of the AHL schedule. Please consider using our official StubHub Tickets link HERE. We thank you in advance!
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