Wilkes-Barre/Scranton erased a three-goal deficit in the final 12:23 of regulation before Simon Despres scored his second goal of the night at 6:32 of the second overtime period, giving the Penguins a 5-4 victory over Providence and a 2-1 series lead in the teams’ Eastern Conference semifinal series on Wednesday night.
Game 4 goes Friday evening in Providence.
The Bruins scored twice late in the second period and twice more early in the third — covering a span of 5:50 of playing time — to take a 4-1 lead in the pivotal Game 3.
But Tom Kostopoulos (7:37), Despres (12:10) and Conor Sheary (14:09) scored to tie things up for the Penguins, and Despres buried a rebound of a Brendan Mikkelson shot in double overtime to cap the comeback.
Chuck Kobasew netted his fifth playoff goal for Wilkes-Barre, Sheary added two assists for a three-point night, and Mikkelson and Harry Zolnierczyk tallied two assists each for the Penguins, who have 11 goals in the last two games after being shut out in Game 1 of the series.
Seth Griffith, Joe Morrow, Blake Parlett and Alexander Khokhlachev scored for the Bruins.
Peter Mannino got the win for Wilkes-Barre, making 36 saves. Niklas Svedberg finished with 38 stops, including 20 in overtime.
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 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
Game 5 – Sat., May 17 – W-B/Scranton at Providence, 7:05
*Game 6 – Mon., May 19 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*Game 7 – Wed., May 21 – Providence at W-B/Scranton, 7:05
*if necessary… All times Eastern
