The Wilkes-Barre Penguins did the work, going up 3-0 by the end of the second period and riding a 3-1 lead with a few minutes to go in Game 2 last night against Springfield. But it would be the Thunderbirds’ night, they pulled their goalie and found a way to score two goals and tie the game. Add in a crazy OT bounce and this is a best-of-five round is tied 1-1 with the next two games heading to Massachusetts.
Here was the lineup for the Pens:
The Penguins were been making Springfield look like a sixth place team in the division for quite a while last night. Shots after two periods were 30-14 in favor of WBS and a 2-0 series lead was looking like a formality, until somehow it slipped away. Sergei Murashov had his playoff shutout streak came to an end at 139 minutes last night giving up a shorthanded goal. Springfield only scored one 5v5 goal out of their four tallies on the night, which is in-line what they’ve done all playoff. They find ways to dig deep and somehow pull games out. They made a furious third period comeback after a terrible start and were able to put themselves in position to win.
Murashov made a highlight-reel save to push across laterally and deny a comeback effort deep into the third period.
On the positive side of the fence, Bill Zonnon scored a second goal in as many AHL playoff games, this time on the power play by redirecting a Mikhail Ilyin offering to open the scoring.
Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes also scored goals for the Penguins. Hayes had a nice one on a play from Rutger McGroarty and Harrison Brunicke.
It was a really good game for WBS for the first 55 minutes. From there, it went south, adding some bitter to what had been a sweet night up to that point.
From an NHL perspective, it’s not the worst outcome in the world. Players like Ilyin (two assists), Zonnon (goal), Brunicke (assist), Murashov (41 saves), McGroarty (assist), Hayes (goal) were WBS’s standout players from the game. All of those names are exactly the ones you’d want to see rise to the top. Dealing with going through a little adversity will reveal more than coasting along in an easy manner.
With that, all eyes will turn to the response game from WBS on Saturday. Game 3 in a five game series is one of the most pivotal ones, WBS was in this exact same situation last round having to go on the road after splitting the home games and came out with one of their best games against Hershey. They’ll need that kind of response again.
