The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins moved within one victory of becoming the third team in American Hockey League history to win a playoff series after losing the first three games by beating the Providence Bruins 2-1 in overtime on Monday night. Trevor Smith's goal 3:26 into overtime gave the Penguins a third consecutive victory in their Eastern Conference Semifinal series and forced a Game 7 at Providence on Wednesday.
The Bruins outshot the Penguins 47-18, including 20-2 in the third period, but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goaltender Brad Thiessen stopped 46 shots.
Craig Cunningham gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 1:07 of the second period, but a 5-on-3 power-play goal by Penguins' defenseman Brian Dumoulin at 6:03 got the Penguins even.
After the top-seeded Bruins outshot the Penguins 33-5 in the second and third periods, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton won it when Alex Grant kept a clearing attempt in at the blue line and fired a shot wide of the net. Smith scooped up the puck and wrapped it around before goaltender Niklas Svedberg could get back in position.
Wilkes-Barre is the fourth team in American Hockey League history to force a Game 7 after falling 0-3.
Two teams have overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-7 series. Rochester won four in a row after trailing Cleveland 3-0 to win their 1960 semifinal series, while Adirondack beat Hershey after losing the first three games of the 1989 Southern Division Final. In 2011, Hamilton lost the first three games to Houston, won the next three but lost Game 7.
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