TUFTE'S HAT-TRICK POWERS P-BRUINS PAST ISLANDERS

Providence, RI - Forward Riley Tufte recorded a hat-trick and an assist to power the Providence Bruins past the Bridgeport Islanders 6-4 on Saturday night at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Matthew Poitras posted three assists, while Georgii Merkulov tallied a goal and an assist and Christian Wolanin notched two assists. James Hagens netted his first professional goal on the power play in the final frame.  

How It Happened

• Travis Mitchell slung a wrist shot from the left side boards that snuck inside the near post to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead with 9:28 remaining in the first period. 

• Just 1:07 later, Matthew Highmore collected the puck behind the net and wrapped it around on the backhand, before tucking it across the goal line to extend the Bridgeport lead to 2-0. 

• Michael Callahan fired a wrist shot from the point that Joey Abate redirected from the slot inside the right post to cut the Islanders’ lead to 2-1 with 4:45 to play in the first frame. Jake Schmaltz received a secondary assist. 

• Poitras collected a turnover in the slot and slid the puck over to Merkulov at the left post, where he patiently flipped it past the diving goaltender to tie the game at 2-2 with 1:21 left in the first period.  

• Nearing the end of the power play, Patrick Brown slid the puck across the ice to Tufte at the bottom of the right circle, where he hammered a one-timer into the open side of the net to give the P-Bruins a 3-2 lead with 6:13 remaining in the second period. Wolanin was credited with a secondary assist. 

• On the rush, Tufte skated the puck into the right circle and attempted to slide it across the crease, where it deflected off a diving defender and across the goal line to extend the Providence lead to 4-2 just 57 seconds after his previous tally. Poitras received an assist.  

• Tufte dished the puck to Hagens at the bottom of the right circle, where he hammered a one-timer inside the near post for a power play goal to give the P-Bruins a 5-2 lead with 11:34 to play in the third frame. Wolanin was credited with a secondary assist.

• Cole Eiserman cut down the slot and redirected a feed from Matt Luff inside the left post for a power play goal to cut the Providence lead to 5-3 with 7:07 left in the third period.

• Poitras fired a cross-crease pass to Tufte cutting towards the crease, where he redirected it into the net for his third goal of the game to give the P-Bruins a 6-3 lead with 5:16 remaining in the third period. Merkulov received a secondary assist. 

• Cole McWard’s slap shot from the point found the back of the net to shrink the Providence lead to 6-4 with 2:53 to play in the third frame.   

Stats  

• Tufte’s third goal of the game was his 31st goal of the season, the most by a Providence Bruin since Frank Vatrano led the league with 36 tallies in the 2015-16 season.

• Hagens netted his first professional goal in his second career game. 

• Abate has points in five straight games with seven total in that span. 

• Poitras extended his point streak to seven games with ten total in that span, the longest streak of any Providence Bruin this season.   

• Goaltender Michael DiPietro stopped 26 of 30 shots faced. The P-Bruins totaled 26 shots.

• The power play went 2-for-2 and the penalty kill was 1-for-2. 

• The P-Bruins improve to 49-13-1-0 and finish the regular season matchups against the Islanders this season with a 11-1-0-0 record.  

Up Next

The Providence Bruins host the Springfield Thunderbirds on Sunday, March 29 at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Puck drop is set for 3:05 p.m.

Every minute of Bruins hockey can be watched online with the league’s streaming service, AHLTV on FloHockey. AHLTV on FloHockey provides its subscribers access to not just every regular season and Calder Cup Playoff game for all 32 AHL teams, but also more than 21,000 hockey contests from other professional and junior leagues on FloHockey, as well as access to all other live event streams and replays across FloSports. 

---

03.28.2026