Ian Mitchell blasted a slap shot home with 12:19 to go in regulation, snapping a tie and sending Providence on its way to a 5-1 win over Springfield in their decisive Game 3 at Amica Mutual Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.
Providence advances to meet Charlotte in one Atlantic Division semifinal series. Hershey and Lehigh Valley will face off in the other semifinal.
With the teams tied at 1-1 after 40 minutes, the Bruins came out and controlled play in the third period. After defenseman Frederic Brunet drew a tripping penalty against Springfield’s Corey Andonovski, Mitchell scored Providence’s second power-play goal of the contest to put the B’s on top for good.
Just 54 seconds later, Riley Tufte stole the puck at the Springfield blue line, got around a defender and slipped a shot between the legs of Colten Ellisto make it 3-1. Tufte scored again with 4:53 remaining, knocking in his own rebound off a two-on-one rush, and Matthew Poitras added his second goal of the game on another power play 32 seconds later.
Michael DiPietro (2-1) made 15 saves for the Bruins in Game 3, finishing the series with 49 saves on 52 shots (.942) and just one goal against over the final 169 minutes.
Ellis (1-2) turned aside 34 shots in the loss as Providence outshot Springfield 20-3 in the third period, including 15-0 over the first 13-plus minutes of the frame.
Providence earned its first series victory since 2017, ending a streak of six consecutive defeats.
(Providence wins series, 2-1)
Game 1 – Wed., Apr. 23 – Springfield 2, PROVIDENCE 1
Game 2 – Fri., Apr. 25 – Providence 1, SPRINGFIELD 0 (OT)
Game 3 – Sun., Apr. 27 – PROVIDENCE 5, Springfield 1
