Tufte's Late Tally Lifts P-Bruins Past Bears
AHL Providence Bruins

Tufte's Late Tally Lifts P-Bruins Past Bears

Published on March 8, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Providence Bruins News Release


Providence, RI - Forward Riley Tufte netted the game-winning goal with 48 seconds to play and added an assist to lift the Providence Bruins past the Hershey Bears 5-4 on Sunday evening at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Matthew Poitras recorded two assists, while Joey Abate, Christian Wolanin, Matej Blumel, and Jake Schmaltz also found the back of the net.

How It Happened

Billy Sweezey zipped a pass ahead for Abate, where he skated it into the right circle and fired a wrist shot inside the near post to give the P-Bruins a 1-0 lead just 3:55 into the opening frame. Goaltender Michael DiPietro recorded a secondary assist.

Dalton Smith tied the game for Hershey with 13:47 remaining in the first period.

Wolanin hammered a one-timer from the right circle that snuck inside the right post for a power play goal to give Providence a 2-1 lead with 15:53 to play in the second frame. Poitras and Georgii Merkulov received the assists.

While on the rush, Patrick Brown slid the puck over to Blumel at the right circle, where he wristed a shot inside the far post for a power play goal to extend the P-Bruins' lead to 3-1 with 13:31 left in the third period.

Bogdan Trineyev cut the Providence lead to 3-2 just 60 seconds later.

Ilya Protas tied the game at 3-3 on the power play with eight minutes to play.

Protas then gave Hershey a 4-3 lead with 3:52 remaining in the third period.

Schmaltz chipped in a rebound from the right post to tie the game at 4-4 with 2:50 left in the third period. Victor Soderstrom and Fabian Lysell received the assists.

Tufte received a pass in the left circle and sent a wrist shot under the goaltender's glove to give the P-Bruins a 5-4 lead with 48 seconds remaining. Poitras and Michael Callahan were credited with the assists.

Stats

Tufte's game-winning tally was his team leading 25th goal of the season.

Christopher Brown made his Providence debut.

DiPietro stopped 24 of 28 shots faced. The P-Bruins totaled 41 shots.

The power play went 2-for-7 and the penalty kill was 2-for-3.

The P-Bruins improve to 43-11-1-0.

Up Next

The Providence Bruins travel to the Springfield Thunderbirds on Wednesday, March 11 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.

Check out the Providence Bruins Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from March 8, 2026


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