SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — The Springfield Thunderbirds (14-15-2-1) rode a historic night from their captain to a 6-4 win over the Providence Bruins (18-13-3-1) on Saturday night before a sellout crowd of 6,793 at the MassMutual Center on Throwback Night.

After an eight-day layoff, the T-Birds wasted little time getting to their game, and just 3:34 into the first, Dylan Peterson rifled home the first tally of the night, ripping a right-wing wrister over Brandon Bussi's shoulder to make it a 1-0 game. Peterson's goal was all the more remarkable, considering he fired the shot while a Bruin defender's stick was lodged in his skate blade. 

After assisting on the Peterson goal, Corey Schueneman put his fingerprints on the game just 4:30 later, taking a feed from Matt Luff and rifling it past Bussi's glove hand to make it a 2-0 game and forcing Bruins coach Ryan Mougenel to replace Bussi with Michael DiPietro.

Colten Ellis got the nod in the Springfield net and answered the bell in the opening period with two dazzling saves on Riley Duran at point-blank range in the closing moments of the frame, maintaining the 2-0 advantage into the intermission.

After their lackluster opening period, the Bruins responded with a strong push to begin the middle period. Fabian Lysell got Providence on the board for the first time at 2:54 when he deflected a Mason Millman shot through traffic and over Ellis on the stick side to make it a 2-1 game. Brett Harrison followed at 10:50 with a net-crashing effort from the right-wing side, and the visitors had evened the slate, 2-2.

With time dwindling in the second period and a Springfield power play expiring, a simple play by Michael Buchinger turned the tide of the game for the T-Birds, as the rookie fired a spinning wrister that eluded DiPietro and restored the Springfield lead, 3-2, with just over 22 seconds to play. Buchinger's first pro goal was a springboard for the T-Birds in the final period.

The T-Birds piggybacked the Buchinger goal with another rookie's exploits on the power play at 3:59 as Dalibor Dvorsky uncorked a wrister past the stick hand of DiPietro to extend the lead to 4-2. On the tally, Matthew Peca picked up his second assist of the night, and in doing so, he became the T-Birds' all-time scoring leader with 158 points in his Springfield career.

Providence still showed no interest in rolling over, and Patrick Brown answered with a power-play goal of his own at 9:24 to bring it down to a one-goal contest at 4-3.

As the Bruins kept pressing for a tying goal, Peca made a difference-making play at 15:29, slipping a pass into the crease from the trapezoid, allowing MacKenzie MacEachern to chop it through DiPietro and make it a 5-3 game. The captain's third assist of the night once again gave Springfield insurance.

Once again, that extra goal proved pivotal when Duran cashed in on a centering pass from Riley Tufte at 17:48 during a 6-on-5 situation to make it a 5-4 score.

Finally, though, the T-Birds fought off the Bruins' last gasp, and Hunter Skinner got credit for an empty-netter in the final seconds with some help from Peterson, who pestered Max Jones and allowed the rolling puck to slip into the yawning net. 

Fresh off one of their most impressive performances of the season, the T-Birds hit the road for the first time in 2025 on Sunday for another installment of the Mercy Medical Center I-91 Rivalry in Hartford against the Wolf Pack. Puck drop is set for 5:00 p.m. at the XL Center.

Fans can get their Thunderbirds tickets today by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.