PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (2-3-0-0) could not solve the Providence Bruins (2-2-0-0) and their goaltender Michael DiPietro, falling 3-0 on Sunday afternoon inside Amica Mutual Pavilion.
Colten Ellis earned a second consecutive start after defeating the Bruins an evening earlier, and the young goaltender was kept busy in a first period that saw Providence outshoot Springfield 12-4.
The Bruins eventually cracked the ice at 12:17 following an extended shift in the offensive zone. Veteran blueliner Jordan Oesterle located open ice in the left circle, stepped up, and slapped a one-time feed from Fabian Lysell over Ellis’s shoulder, giving the Bruins the 1-0 edge.
5:42 later, in his second tour of duty as a Bruin, Vinni Lettieri continued his lengthy history of success against the T-Birds when he one-timed a shot through Ellis to extend the Bruins lead to 2-0 heading into intermission.
Springfield came out hungrier in the second period, but DiPietro was equal to the task, as he calmly stood tall against 10 T-Birds attempts. His best save came past the midpoint of the second, when he came out to challenge Aleksanteri Kaskimaki on a 4-on-2, denying the rookie his first AHL goal.
As the game moved to the third, the T-Birds tried to up the ante on offense, and Marcus Sylvegard had the best chance of the day with a breakaway bid, but DiPietro had the answer to turn aside the man who had the game-winning goal a night earlier.
In the end, despite a perfect 4-for-4 showing by the Springfield penalty kill and a 31-save performance from Ellis, the offensive drought proved costly, and Patrick Brown sealed matters with an empty-netter in the final 90 seconds to seal it up for the Bruins.
The T-Birds return home to begin another three-game weekend on Friday, Oct. 25 against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Puck drop is set for 7:05 p.m. at the Thunderdome.
