Merkulov's Hat Trick Puts P-Bruins Past Crunch
Published on December 20, 2025 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Providence Bruins News Release
Providence, RI - Forward Georgii Merkulov netted his first career hat trick to put the Providence Bruins past the Syracuse Crunch 3-1 on Saturday night at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Goaltender Simon Zajicek stopped 23 shots to earn the victory and recorded an assist.
How It Happened
Just 1:01 into the opening frame, Merkulov skated the puck into the right circle on a 2-on-1 rush and fired a wrist shot that rang the cross bar and dropped across the goal line to give the P-Bruins a 1-0 lead. Patrick Brown and Christian Wolanin received assists.
Conor Geekie received a pass in the slot and fired a wrist shot into the upper-left corner of the net to tie the game at 1-1 with 4:44 remaining in the first period.
Billy Sweezey 's one-timer from the point deflected off Merkulov and trickled over the goal line to give the P-Bruins a 2-1 lead with 9:01 to play in the second frame. Riley Tufte was credited with a secondary assist.
With 18 seconds remaining, Merkulov found the empty net to record the hat trick. Tufte and Zajicek received the assists.
Stats
Merkulov notched his 200th career point on his second goal of the game. He ranks second all-time in Providence Bruins scoring behind Andy Hilbert (2001-2005) with 210.
Zajicek posted his first career assist in the AHL.
Zajicek stopped 23 of 24 shots faced. The P-Bruins totaled 29 shots.
The power play went 0-for-0 and the penalty kill was 0-for-0.
The P-Bruins improve to 20-5-1-0.
Up Next
The Providence Bruins travel to the Springfield Thunderbirds on Saturday, December 27 at the MassMutual Center. Puck drop is set for 6:05 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.
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