Alexander Khokhlachev tallied three points and Niklas Svedberg made 36 saves as the Providence Bruins staved off elimination and defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 4-1, at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Monday night.
The seventh and deciding game of the teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series will be Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre.
The Penguins owned a 37-15 advantage in shots on goal for the game but were stymied by Svedberg, who made his first start since giving up a 4-1 lead in a double-overtime loss in Game 3.
Providence got on the board first 7:51 into the second period as Matt Lindblad chipped the puck ahead to Khokhlachev, who raced up ice on a two-on-one rush and snapped a shot past Peter Mannino (12 saves).
Bobby Robins, who had missed the previous three games of the series serving an AHL suspension, gave the Bruins a 2-0 lead at 12:56 when Khokhlachev found him alone in front and he put the puck past an outstretched Mannino for his first goal of the playoffs.
Khokhlachev made it 3-0 on a power play 1:36 into the third period, taking a feed from Ryan Spooner in front and slipping home his second goal of the night, fifth of the series and seventh of the postseason.
Conor Sheary ended Svedberg’s shutout bid with 2:57 left in regulation, but Spooner popped in an empty-netter with 1:49 to play for the final margin.
Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
6-W-B/Scranton Penguins vs. 7-Providence Bruins | Series Snapshot
Game 1 – Fri., May 9 – Providence 4, W-B/SCRANTON 0
Game 2 – Sat., May 10 – W-B/SCRANTON 6, Providence 1
Game 3 – Wed., May 14 – W-B/Scranton 5, PROVIDENCE 4 (2OT)
Game 4 – Fri., May 16 – PROVIDENCE 3, W-B/Scranton 2 (OT)
Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – W-B/Scranton 3, PROVIDENCE 2
Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Providence 4, W-B/SCRANTON 1
Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
