PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Springfield Thunderbirds (27-29-6-2) came up with another clutch road performance en route to a 4-2 win over the Providence Bruins (49-14-1-0) on Sunday afternoon at Amica Mutual Pavilion. 

Steve Ott's club came out with a purpose in a ferocious first period that saw them funnel 17 shots on Simon Zajicek and the Bruins' net. While the Czech-born backstop held the fort for much of the frame, Springfield finally cracked him at 16:28 when Zach Dean dropped a pass deep in the right-wing circle to Akil Thomas, who elevated a wrister to the top shelf for his first T-Birds goal to give Springfield the 1-0 lead. Wyatt Newpower also got his first point as a T-Bird with the secondary helper.

At the other end, Vadim Zherenko, earning his second consecutive start, did his part to help kill off three minutes of power play time in the opening period, while receiving a goal-saving stop early on from Juraj Pekarcik as Brooklynn Kalmikov threatened with a gaping net. 

Zherenko came up with a game-defining moment early in the second when Navrin Mutter and Matthew Poitras moved up in a 2-on-1 looking to tie the score. Mutter hit Poitras with a perfect cross-crease pass, but Zherenko extended as far as he could with the left leg and glove and stonewalled the attempt to keep Springfield in front.

During the same sequence of play, Hunter Skinner crept up into the offense along the right-wing wall and surprised Zajicek with a squeaker through the glove hand of the Providence netminder to make it a 2-0 game at 3:43 of the third.

Calle Rosen continued the blue-line scoring party less than four minutes later, punching a one-time feed from Dean off the post and past Zajicek at 7:11, giving Springfield a 3-0 lead. 

Both teams coughed up big opportunities in the opening minutes of the third, as each club survived 5-on-3 situations to keep the score unchanged. 

Newest T-Birds rookie Felix Trudeau finally broke up the third period stalemate, scoring his first pro goal on a beautiful backhand effort from the right circle at 12:56 of the period. His fellow Quebec linemates Thomas Bordeleau and Julien Gauthier picked up helpers on the rookie's milestone tally. 

Providence finally did spoil Zherenko's shutout bid when Riley Duran one-timed a shot through the Springfield netminder at 16:50, and Georgii Merkulov added one more with 1:14 to play, but it would be too late for Providence. Zherenko's fourth win against the Bruins featured 35 stops, while Zajicek took his third straight loss against Springfield. 

The T-Birds play their next four games inside the MassMutual Center as they look to continue their push toward the Calder Cup Playoffs. The homestand begins Friday night against the Hershey Bears, with a 7:05 p.m. scheduled puck drop at the Thunderdome.

Single-game tickets and ticket memberships for all remaining games in the Thunderbirds' 2025-26 season are available now - fans can order now by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625).