PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The Springfield Thunderbirds (21-17-2-3) received a spectacular netminding performance from Vadim Zherenko throughout the night but ultimately came up just short in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Providence Bruins (25-14-4-1) on Friday night inside Amica Mutual Pavilion. 

The two teams played a largely uneventful first period coming out of the All-Star break, with Providence outshooting Springfield 10-3 in the opening 20 minutes. Zherenko picked up right where he left off in Iowa with a sturdy first period to keep his club even through the first. Brandon Bussi had little work at the other end, but Springfield nearly broke the ice in the closing minutes as Otto Stenberg narrowly missed pinballing a puck off Bussi from behind the goal line. 

The Bruins broke the ice at 4:12 of period two when Tyler Pitlick crashed the net and cashed in a centering pass from Jeff Viel to give Providence a 1-0 advantage on the veteran's 13th goal of the year.

Zherenko kept the T-Birds within a goal as the Bruins continued peppering the Springfield goal crease, but "Big Z" slammed the door shut for the final 15 minutes of the period, making 13 stops for the period in total.

At the other end, Matt Kessel rewarded his goaltender at 15:31, just a few minutes after the T-Birds' blueliner caught iron with a point-blank chance. After Nikita Alexandrov and Dalibor Dvorsky helped Springfield gain puck possession off the right-wing wall, Kessel found open ice at the top of the left circle, took a feed from Dvorsky, and uncorked a beautiful slap shot over Bussi's blocker arm to deadlock the score. Kessel has now recorded points in each of his last four games with the T-Birds.

The third period saw the visitors vault to their first lead at the 7:00 mark of the frame when Hugh McGing cleaned up a rebound off Bussi's left pad following a Michael Buchinger wrist shot, making it 2-1 for Springfield on McGing's third goal in the last two games.

The one-goal lead made it into the game's final four minutes, but the Bruins battled their way back. After Zherenko battled to keep the Providence man-advantage off the board, Max Jones finally capitalized with a snapper from the right circle just after penalty time had expired to tie the score, 2-2, at 16:05 of the third period.

For a second straight meeting between the division foes, overtime was necessary, and like the prior meeting, Zherenko and Bussi were outstanding in the extra frame. Zherenko's finest work came on a pair of game-ending opportunities by Frederic Brunet. The T-Birds netminder shut down the Bruins' blueliner on a backhand breakaway attempt before coming up with perhaps the best Springfield save of the season with a sprawling post-to-post denial after Fabian Lysell set up Brunet on a 2-on-0 breakaway rush. 

Immediately following Zherenko's game-saving heroics, the Springfield power play had just over a minute of 4-on-3 time to try to find a putaway goal, but Bussi and the Bruins survived the threat, forcing the game into a shootout. Like the meeting 13 nights ago in Springfield, Bussi was unbeatable as he turned away Dvorsky, Alexandrov, and Samuel Johannesson. At the same time, Vinni Lettieri found a way to solve Zherenko in the second round of shooters to seal the triumph for the Bruins. 

Despite the loss, Zherenko shined with 42 stops during the 65 minutes of game action. The third-year backstop has now turned away 121 of the last 128 shots he has faced. Springfield also extended its point streak to six consecutive games (4-0-0-2), tying the team's longest stretch of the season. 

The two rivals reconvene in Springfield on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. before a sellout MassMutual Center crowd for the annual Ice-O-Topes Night presented by Balise. Fans who did not secure tickets in time can still watch on CoziTV and AHLTV beginning at 7:00 p.m.

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