The Atlantic Division finals continue at the MassMutual Center tonight (7:05 ET, 
) with Game 3 between Springfield and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Penguins were seemingly on their way to a 2-0 series lead as they carried a 3-0 cushion into the third period of Game 2 last Thursday, only to see the Thunderbirds score three times in the final frame before Akil Thomas won it in overtime.
It was Springfield’s fourth come-from-behind victory already this postseason, and their fourth OT win as well.
“We had a chat about what our game looks like,” Thunderbirds head coach Steve Ott said after Game 2. “The recipe for the way we need to play, we saw it in the third and we saw it in overtime.”
Shut out for the first five periods of the series, Springfield finally got on the board thanks to Hugh McGing’s shorthanded goal 55 seconds into the final frame of Game 2. Dillon Dube then scored twice in the last 3:24 of regulation – both with the goaltender off for an extra attacker – and Thomas got the game-winner thanks to a fluky bounce off the end boards in OT.
Springfield outshot Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 31-12 in the third period and overtime.
“We went into prevent defense (and) that’s not how we play,” Penguins head coach Kirk MacDonald said. “We’ll regroup, we’ll be fine. I don’t think there’s any sense of panic. We lost track of our identity and it bit us in the butt. We made some mistakes but at the end of the day we only gave up one five-on-five goal. We’ll get back to work and try and get better.”
The Pens built their 3-0 lead on goals by Bill Zonnon (his second in as many games as a professional), Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes.
“It’s playoffs. It’s not going to be easy,” Hayes said. “We showed that we can beat them if we play our game. We just have to learn from that.”
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton owned the third-best road record in the league in 2025-26, going 25-7-3-1 (54 points, .750). They won both of their visits to Springfield, a 3-2 win on Jan. 19 and a 7-2 victory on Feb. 18. The Thunderbirds have won seven of their last eight home games, including two overtime wins against Providence in the division semifinals.
Chicago hosts Grand Rapids tonight (8 ET, ) with a chance to sweep the Central Division champions out of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Wolves erased an early 3-1 deficit to pull out a 4-3 overtime victory in Game 2 on Saturday, their second straight come-from-behind win to begin the series. Felix Unger Sörum, without a goal through Chicago’s first six playoff games, scored his second goal of the night at 5:14 of OT.
Cayden Primeau (5-2, 2.17, .923) made 36 saves, stopping the last 30 shots he faced on the night; he was also credited with an assist on the game-tying goal.
Michael Brandsegg-Nygård registered a goal and two assists in Game 2 as Grand Rapids scored three times in the opening 12:04. It would turn out to be the first time all season that the Griffins lost a game they had led after the first period (27-1-0-0).
Making his sixth consecutive start this postseason, Michal Postava (3-3, 1.82, .928) stopped 25 shots, but he allowed more than three goals in a game for the first time this season (31 combined appearances during the regular season and playoffs).
“We laid off the gas when we had the lead,” said Griffins captain Dominik Shine. “There’s games that happen like that: You play a game that you think you should win and you don’t. Sometimes you win games you shouldn’t. We collectively need to be better, and we can get the job done.”
Fourteen teams in AHL history have come back to win a best-of-five playoff series after falling behind 0-2, including four who lost the first two games on home ice.
“It’s one game at a time,” Shine added. “It’s a five-game series. It’s not over in two.”