By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter @BlackAndGold277
Last night, the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins were on the road at the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to face the Bridgeport Islanders. This was the second time in the three games that these Atlantic Division teams faced each other in this early 2025-26 campaign. Last week, when these two did battle at the same venue in the Nutmeg State, the top minor-pro affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Boston Bruins came out with a 3-2 overtime victory.
On Friday night in game two of 12 on the season, the Bruins brought the offense, beating the Islanders 5-3 in a physical affair to remain a perfect 3-0 in the Atlantic Division standings. With last night’s victory on the road, Providence remains tied in first place with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who also won on Friday evening, beating the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-2 on the road at the XL Center in downtown Hartford, Connecticut.
In the first game of the weekend last night, Providence got off to a quick start when Bruins forward Riley Tufte scored his first goal of the season just 36 seconds into the opening frame. The assists on Tufte’s even-strength goal went to defenseman Billy Sweezey and forward and Bruins team captain Patrick Brown. For Sweezey, it was his first point of the season, while Brown extended his point streak to two games (2-1-3) to start the year.
Minutes later, in the opening frame at the 6:38 mark, forward Alex Steeves would get the traveling Bruins to a 2-0 lead, scoring on the power play for his second goal of the season. The assists on Steeves’ second of the year went to forwards Georgii Merkulov and Matej Blumel. Both Merkulov and Blumel now have points in three straight games to start the season. Bridgeport would get on the board in the first at the nine-minute mark, cutting the Providence lead in half.
To finish the first period, forward Brown would score his second goal of the season at the 10:23 mark for his first multi-point game. Forward Brett Harrison notched his first point of the year, and Tufte got in on the play offensively with the assists. Tufte got his first multi-point effort of the season and played a good game, especially with his massive frame causing anxiety around the Bridgeport net and in board battles.
In the second period, the Providence Bruins would go up on the Islanders 4-1 with forward Alex Steeves scoring his second power play goal of the contest at the 18:38 mark. The helpers on Steeves’ man-advantage tally went to Merkulov and Blumel. Steeves, a newcomer to the Boston Bruins organization, has been terrific thus far in these three games to kick off the 2025-26 campaign. After going pointless in the season opener against these Islanders, the St. Paul, Minnesota native now has 3-3-6 in his last two games. The Steeves goal was the only one scored in the second period as the game seemed to slip away for the home Islanders, and both teams started to get physical, trying to gain a competitive edge.
In the final period of this game, the Bruins would go up 5-1 over Bridgeport courtesy of the second goal from Tufte at the 1:26 mark, scoring the team’s third power play goal of the game. Forwards Dans Locmelis and Fabian Lysell got the assists on the Tufte goal, and for Lysell, he now has 3-2-5 numbers in his last two games. Bridgeport would make a solid effort trying to get back in this game, scoring back-to-back power play goals after Providence gave up some stupid penalties in the final period. The B’s eventually won the game 5-3 on the road in one of the better games this season offensively.
Goaltender Michael DiPietro got the start in net, earning his second victory of the season, stopping 27 of 30 Islanders shots to give him a 2-0 start on the year, along with a 3.01 goals-against-average and .910 save percentage. DiPietro made some fantastic saves in this one and was one of the main reasons this Providence team locked down the victory to remain unbeaten on the year thus far.
Providence outshot the Islanders by a close 32 to 30 margin and went 3/6 on the man advantage while the team’s penalty kill struggled a bit, giving up two goals later in the game. It was all Providence Bruins for the three stars of the night, with the third star going to team captain Patrick Brown, the second star going to Alex Steeves, and the first star honor going to big forward Riley Tufte.
The next game for the AHL Bruins is tonight at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence, Rhode Island, as the Atlantic Division rival Hartford Wolf Pack comes to town. Hartford currently sits at the bottom of the division with a 0-2 record and getting outscored 7-3 in those two regular-season contests. If you’d like to purchase last-minute tickets to see tonight’s Providence vs. Hartford home game, please consider using our StubHub Tickets partner link HERE for all your AHL B’s home and away ticket needs.
Leave a Reply