PROVIDENCE -- It's not really a surprise that Tuesday night's Mayor's Cup game at Meehan Auditorium is a match up of teams headed in opposite directions.

The surprise is in the fact that it is Providence College that is stumbling, while Brown University is on the upswing.

The Friars – ranked 10th and 11th in Monday's national polls – are in an 0-2-1 dip. They dropped close decisions to Boston College and Boston University over the weekend.

Brown -- picked for last place in the ECAC coaches poll -- is on a 4-1-2 roll and coming off a championship in the Three Rivers Classic in Pittsburgh 10 days ago. The Bears are well-rested after not playing over the weekend.

So the stage is set for what shapes up to be an interesting tilt between the crosstown rivals.

This will be the 101st meeting between the schools, with PC holding a 51-46-3 edge. The Friars won the last game between the teams – and handed the Bears their most recent loss -- on Dec. 29 in the Ledyard Bank Classic at Dartmouth. The Mayor's Cup was not on the line that night. PC outshot Brown, 44-14, but needed an empty-net goal in the final minute to salt away a 3-1 victory.

Brown coach Brendan Whittet is pleased with the growth his young team is showing after a sluggish start.

"I feel good about the direction we are trending in as a team. We are competing really hard, playing with a lot of energy. We’re learning how to win, how to play with leads, how to be resilient, how to come back in games,'' he said after practice on Monday afternoon.

Regardless of PC's weekend struggles, Whittet expects a difficult test for his team.

"Providence is going to come in here and they won’t deviate from how they play. They work extremely hard. They go to the net hard. They’ll battle and they’ll be in your grill all night long,'' he said.

After Saturday night's home loss to BU in which the Friars gave up a 2-0 lead, PC coach Nate Leaman said his team "is not finding ways to win games right now'' and vowed a return to basics.

"We had a good series with Miami (a win and a tie on Jan. 4 and 5). For whatever reason, we've gotten away from that," he said.

"Hopefully you can flush the weekend quickly. It’s going to take our A game. (Brown was) the only team in college hockey not to play this weekend and we had two hard-fought games,'' he said.

The Friars (12-6-4) will look to rely on their structure against Brown, after getting away from it for a couple of games. "That’s the area of concern with me with this group, that we’re not executing real well. Because of that, we are too easy to play against. At this time of year, you are going to get everybody’s A game.''

Though his team is rested, Whittet said he would have preferred to play over the weekend. "When you are playing well, you want to keep playing,'' he said.

Brown (5-7-3) will be without two good players on Tuesday. Sophomore defenseman Tony Stillwell has been out of the lineup since taking a hard hit against the Friars on Dec. 30. Freshman forward Justin Jallen, a pleasant surprise so far, won't be available after being injured in practice last week.

Look for Hayden Hawkey to start in goal for PC, as he has for 100 of the last 101 games.

Brown's starter was still up for discussion as of Monday, Whittet said. If the Bears stick with their rotation, it is sophomore Luke Kania's turn. He stopped 41 PC shots last time.

The most memorable Mayor's Cup game in recent years was in January 2016. Brown upset PC -- No. 1 in the polls at the time and the defending national champs -- in overtime on a goal by freshman Tommy Marchin, now a senior co-captain.

The schools played a two-game, total-goals series that season, and the Friars retained the cup despite losing the second game.

The Friars and Bears went back to playing one Mayor's Cup game per season in 2016-17. PC has won the last two Mayor's Cup games by a combined scored of 11-0.

Brown will look to turn that around on Tuesday.

"It’s nice to win a trophy,'' Whittet said of the Three Rivers Classic hardware, which is parked on his desk. "Now we have another opportunity in the Mayor’s Cup.''

Tuesday's game starts at 7 p.m. and will be televised on NESN and ESPN-Plus. It will be Youth Night at Meehan Auditorium -- children 12 and under will get in free.