By: Mark Allred | Follow me on Twitter / X @BlackAndGold277
The American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins got a 3-1 home victory last night at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. Last night’s opponent was the North Division Syracuse Crunch, the National Hockey League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was the last home game of the 2025 calendar year and the second time the Boston Bruins’ AHL affiliate played in front of the home crowd since November 22nd, 2025. The Bruins are officially on their holiday break and back in action this coming weekend when they’re on the road in Springfield, for a back-to-back in Western Massachusetts.
The Providence victory over the Crunch was the 20th of the 2025-26 campaign after 26 games. The Bruins improved their home record to 9-4-0 at the AMP and are 7-2-1 in their last ten games. With a 20-5-1 record and 41 points earned so far this year, Providence sits in the second position, one point behind Atlantic Division-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, who lead the Eastern Conference with 42 points on the season. The Bruins are unbeaten in regulation in their last four games.
Bruins forward Georgii Merkulov was last night’s hero as he provided all of the offense on the scoresheet with the win over the visiting Crunch team. Merkulov only needed 1:01 into the first period at the Amica, setting the tone for the Bruins’ offense with his first goal of the night. Merkulov’s ninth goal of the season was assisted by forward Patrick Brown and defenseman Christian Wolanin. The Bruins would finish the first 20 minutes of the game tied at one apiece as Crunch forward Conor Geekie, the brother of Boston Bruins forward and leading scorer Morgan Geekie, would get the Syracuse lone goal of the game.
Midway through the second period, Merkulov would get his second of the night and tenth of the season at the 10:50 mark of the middle frame. The helpers on Merk’s tenth goal went to defenseman Billy Sweezey and forward Riley Tufte. For defenseman Sweezey, the assist snapped a six-game pointless streak, and for the power forward Tufte, it extended his point streak to two games.
The final goal of the game was Merkulov’s third of the game and 11th of the season when he sealed the deal on beating the visiting Thunderbirds with an empty-net goal at the 19:41 mark of the final period at the Amica. Tufte got his second point of the game with the assist on the yawning goal for Merk, and AHL rookie goaltender Simon Zajicek had the other assist, recording his first-ever North American professional point since coming over from playing overseas. For Tufte, this was his fifth multi-point game of the season, as he has 20 points in 19 games this year.
With Providence goaltender Michael DiPietro recovering from a lower-body injury and using the holiday break for recovery, his tandem partner, Zajicek, got the start in goal in the 3-1 victory over Syracuse last night. This was win number ten on the season as the Czech Republic native and AHL Bruins netminder continues to have a strong rookie season, with a regular-season record of 10-1-1, a 1.93 goals-against-average, and a .934 save percentage. The 6’-2” 185-pound goaltender has been unbeaten in regulation in the last eight games, going 7-0-1 in that timeframe.
As mentioned at the start of this article, Providence is back in action this coming weekend as they take their 11-1-1 road record to play the Atlantic Division foe, Springfield Thunderbirds, to finish the 2025 year. Game one of the back-to-back road session begins at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, and will kick off on Friday, December 27th, with a puck drop set for 6:05 pm. The second game at the MassMutual will be on New Year’s Eve, Wednesday night, with a start time of 3:05 in the afternoon. The B’s finish the upcoming three-game road trip with a contest against the Hartford Wolf Pack on January 2nd, 2026, at the Peoples Bank Arena in downtown Hartford, Connecticut.
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