PROVIDENCE – The good news is that there will continue to be playoff hockey for Bruins fans, and for those associated with the Original Six organization.
It just unfortunately isn’t the Stanley Cup playoffs that everybody is accustomed to at this point. Instead, it’s the Providence Bruins that have advanced past the wonky, opening three-game playoff series against the Springfield Thunderbirds after grinding things out for much of the three American League postseason games before pulling away with three goals in the third period of Game 3 to win much more comfortably than the first two games – a 2-1 loss where they outshot Springfield 40-15 and an overtime victory in Game 2 after a game that went scoreless in regulation time.
The 5-1 win over Springfield in Sunday afternoon’s Game 3 was Providence’s first playoff series win since 2017 and underscores a roster loaded with talented young players, former first round picks like Oliver Wahlstrom and Riley Tufte, and some pretty good AHL veterans in players like Patrick Brown, Vinni Lettieri, Jeffrey Viel and Tyler Pitlick. It was Letteri that shoveled home a rebound OT game-winner to clinch Game 2 and make certain Providence would even have the chance for a winner-take-all Game 3 at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
Make no mistake, though.
The Bruins brass is paying a great deal of attention to this Calder Cup playoff team, and with good reason after 21-year-old Matt Poitras potted two power play goals in the decisive Game 3 and other young prospects like Dans Locmelis, Fabian Lysell, Riley Duran, Fraser Minten and Frederic Brunet are playing key roles for Providence as well.
Some of the young guys have had their moments thus far in Providence’s brief AHL playoff run, but make no mistake that the playmaking, talented Poitras has been the most dominant in these grinding postseason games.
Poitras with 2 goals and the P-Bruins are turning it into a rout in the third period. Looks like they are gonna advance https://t.co/GUB4kpWpfh
— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) April 27, 2025
That all bodes well for his NHL chances next season and reinforces Boston’s decision to keep him in the AHL over the second half of the hockey season for needed development time while the B’s were flailing away in Boston.
“We used Matty Poitras [at the NHL level] a couple years ago, that was very, very good and arguably one of our better players in training camp. He earned an opportunity to be here,” said Sweeney. “Could we have made a short-term decision and a long-term benefit of sending him back to junior after nine games? Yeah, probably, in hindsight…did it help him from the standpoint of getting exposure and get him further along in the process? I think he's a better player now as a result of some of the experiences he's had.
“Unfortunately, got injured last year and missed a lion's share of the second half of the season. He's now back on track offensively, producing at the AHL level and putting up a point a game. He's going to go through the playoffs, which we're excited about with the group we have as a next building block step and arguably comes back as a better player and challenging to the degree that you just referenced.”
Don Sweeney, assistant general manager Evan Gold, assistant GM Jamie Langenbrunner, player development director Adam McQuaid and other members of the Bruins management team have been attending all the games, and Sweeney himself made no bones about this P-Bruins playoff run serving as an important indicator for which players are going to be serious contenders for NHL roster spots in the fall.
“We have to have players grow and assume those [NHL] responsibilities,” said Sweeney, when asked about the roster vacancies created by the deals made at the NHL trade deadline. “Obviously, Providence is [in] the playoffs we're going to see how [those P-Bruins players] respond to those [challenges] and see whether or not they can grow and graduate, for lack of a better term, graduate to be able to do in the National Hockey League.
“If not, we'll have to address it from the outside and probably bring in a little bit more experience, as I reference, on the wing, to spread the scoring ability around. We lost quality people and quality players [at the deadline]. That's what made it so professionally and personally painful at the deadline because they've been successful, they're going to continue to be successful. [But] it's opportunity for somebody else to come in as you reference to take over those minutes.”
Predictably, it’s been established veteran guys like the 27-year-old Tufte (2 goals, 4 points) and the 30-year-old Lettieri (one goal, three points) – both also unrestricted free agents following the current season -- that have led the way early for the P-Bruins in these gritty AHL playoff games, but there will be more runway for the young Providence players to keep showing what they can do – and gaining valuable development experience -- when the second round series against the Charlotte Checkers gets underway this week in a five game second round playoff series.
ONE TIMERS
• One player who’s benefited greatly from some time and patience in Providence has been Oliver Wahlstrom. The 24-year-old struggled to generate points on the scoresheet in Boston with one goal and two points in 16 games, but Wahlstrom did play well and had more than his share of chances during a difficult time down the stretch in Boston.
Wahlstrom cleared waivers after being sent to Providence in March and finished with nine goals and 15 points in 19 games for the P-Bruins while being one of their “go to” guys on offense. Wahlstrom scored the only goal for the P-Bruins in their Game 1 playoff loss to Springfield earlier this week and is part of a loaded Providence group hoping for a long postseason run after advancing past the Thunderbirds in their quirky three-game playoff series.
“I’ve really liked his game. His compete level, his physicality and his scoring…he’s done it all,” said P-Bruins assistant coach Trent Whitfield. “Credit to him and it’s been really good for us as well.”
Wahlstrom is kind of an interesting guy because he was never really given much AHL time in the Islanders organization to really develop and instead spent much of his early 20’s bouncing in and out of the Islanders lineup at the NHL level.
That’s not really a great development track, particularly for a player that logged just one season as an 18-year-old at Boston College before signing a pro contract with the Islanders. It remains to be seen what will happen with Wahlstrom beyond this season, but it wouldn’t be a total shocker if the restricted free agent sticks around the Bruins organization while they continue to develop a guy that has the shot and offensive skill level to score goals at the NHL level even though he hasn’t to this point.
• Great to see Providence Bruins head coach Ryan Mougenel back behind the P-Bruins bench for Sunday’s Game 3 win over Springfield after he missed the first couple of games of the playoff series while attending to his ailing father Ron, who passed away recently after an illness. One would expect that Mougenel is going to play a definitive role in the open search for the next Boston Bruins head coach after doing a really nice job developing players at the AHL level over the last few seasons.
• Bruins fans may be left out in the cold right now when it comes to watching their team during the Stanley Cup playoffs, but there will be some very good Black and Gold representation at the IIHF World Championships. Mason Lohrei, Jeremy Swayman and Andrew Peeke will all be suiting up for Team USA in what could amount to a really nice ending to a growing pains season for the talented Lohrei, and David Pastrnak and Jakub Lauko will be playing for the Czech Republic, while Elias Lindholm will participate for Team Sweden after healing fully from his back woes earlier in the season.
Headed to Worlds 🇺🇸 @Mason_lohrei20, @JeremySwayman, and @andrewpeeke20 will represent Team USA at the upcoming 2025 IIHF Men's World Championship.#NHLBruins | @usahockey pic.twitter.com/GdlZq42VWn
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) April 24, 2025
One player that won’t be skating in the international tournament is Pavel Zacha, who finished the season with some physical issues that seemed to hamper him in the second half of the year. Credit to him for not missing time while playing through his issue that will require a “small procedure” that isn’t surgical, according to GM Don Sweeney.
