Springfield rallies again as Chicago seeks Central Division sweep

Springfield’s comeback habit is the loudest force in the Atlantic

Overtime resilience is deciding this bracket, and Springfield has turned it into a weapon. The Thunderbirds came into Game 3 at the MassMutual Center at 7:05 p.m. ET on May 19 with the Atlantic Division Final tied after a 4-3 overtime win in Wilkes-Barre, a game that again showed how little a three-goal lead has meant against them.

That comeback started the moment Hugh McGing scored 55 seconds into the third period, a shorthanded goal that ended Sergei Murashov’s shutout streak at 139 minutes and 41 seconds. Dillon Dube then dragged Springfield all the way back with two extra-attacker goals in the final 3:24 of regulation, and Akil Thomas finished the job 13:44 into overtime when a pass from Aleksanteri Kaskimäki bounced off the end boards and off Thomas for the winning touch. By May 19, Springfield had already logged four come-from-behind wins and four overtime wins in the postseason. That is not luck anymore. It is a pattern that changes every late shift in the series.

The size of the comeback matters because of the opponent Springfield is chasing down. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton arrived with a 101-point regular season, a 25-7-3-1 road record, and the confidence of a team that had already won both regular-season games in Springfield, 3-2 on Jan. 19 and 7-2 on Feb. 18. In Game 2, the Penguins built a 3-0 cushion through Bill Zonnon, Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes, then watched the game slip away as Springfield turned the emotional temperature against them. The Penguins can play high-end hockey for long stretches and still lose the feeling of the game, and that is exactly what Springfield has made them do.

The Thunderbirds’ run is still one of the postseason’s sharpest underdog stories. Springfield became the first AHL team to win two playoff series after finishing the regular season at .500 or lower since the 2001 Hershey Bears, and the route there already included upsets of Charlotte and Providence. Steve Ott framed that path perfectly before the series, calling it “another great team” and “no easy road.” The line fits because Springfield has made every round feel like a test of nerve, not just talent.

Georgii Romanov has been central to that shift. After Ott turned over the crease in late January, Romanov had gone 5-1 with a 1.42 goals-against average and a .954 save percentage in six playoff starts through May 11, including a 37-save series-clinching shutout against Providence. That kind of goaltending gives Springfield room to survive the first 40 minutes, which is why a deficit that once would have buried most teams now feels like an invitation for the Thunderbirds to start climbing.

Chicago’s control in the Central rests on the same late-game pressure

The Central Division Final carried the same theme in a different form. Chicago hosted Grand Rapids for Game 3 at 8:00 p.m. ET on May 19 at Allstate Arena with a 2-0 series lead, and the Wolves got there by repeating the same late-game script that has put Springfield on the map: absorb pressure, stay alive, then punish the final minutes.

Game 1 set the tone when Josiah Slavin scored 6:48 into the third period for a 2-1 Chicago win. Game 2 was even more revealing. Grand Rapids led 3-1 early, a dangerous position for a team that had gone 27-1-0-0 when leading after the first period during the regular season, but Chicago kept pushing until Felix Unger Sörum scored his second goal of the night and ended it 5:14 into overtime. Cayden Primeau made 36 saves and even picked up an assist on the tying goal, turning the game into a goaltending-and-pressure showcase rather than a clean win for the favorites.

That matters because Grand Rapids is no ordinary playoff opponent. The Griffins had built a reputation on control during the regular season and came into the series as division champions, but the postseason has already stripped away some of that certainty. Losing Game 2 after holding a two-goal edge early forces them to chase the series instead of shaping it, and that is a far tougher place to be against a Chicago team that has already proven it can erase mistakes quickly.

Chicago’s path is also a reminder that playoff momentum is often less about seeding than about who can keep the pace of the game on its own terms. The Wolves did not need a perfect night to take a 2-0 lead. They needed persistence, a goaltender willing to absorb volume, and a finish that arrived exactly when Grand Rapids seemed settled. That combination is why a sweep was in play entering Game 3, and why the Central final suddenly looked like a series defined by Chicago’s patience as much as by its scoring.

What these division finals are really telling us

Both series are being shaped by the same three habits: overtime calm, special-teams punch, and the pressure of playing from behind. Springfield has already won four overtime games and four comeback games, and its shorthanded strike against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton showed how quickly a game can turn when a team is comfortable making chaos work in its favor. Chicago, meanwhile, has turned late pressure into a 2-0 series lead, with Primeau’s stop-and-surge style giving the Wolves a chance to keep punishing a Grand Rapids team that was so good all winter at protecting leads.

That is the larger playoff story on May 19. The bracket is not being ruled by regular-season standings or by the teams that spent the winter looking strongest on paper. It is being decided by the clubs that can survive the ugly middle of a game, steal momentum in the final minutes, and carry that tension into the next night without blinking. Springfield has already done it enough to change the Atlantic. Chicago was trying to do the same to the Central, one late shift away from a sweep.