Thunderbirds rally past Penguins in OT, tie Atlantic Division finals 1-1

Springfield did not just survive Game 2. It ripped the momentum back from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, climbed out of a 4-3 game with an overtime winner from Akil Thomas and tied the Atlantic Division finals 1-1, turning a series that could have tilted hard toward the Penguins into a reset.

That matters because Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opened the best-of-five set with a 2-0 shutout and came in carrying a 101-point regular season, a 3-1 first-round win over Hershey and a real chance to reach the conference finals for the first time in 12 years. Sergei Murashov had blanked Springfield on 24 shots in Game 1, while Bill Zonnon and Tanner Howe supplied the Penguins’ goals. For one night, it looked like the seed numbers were finally going to show.

Springfield answered the only way this group seems to know how. The Thunderbirds have built this postseason on late punches and no panic, and Game 2 fit the script. They forced overtime, then let Thomas finish it. It was the kind of goal that does more than even a series; it changes the emotional math. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had the clean start, the deeper regular season and the best goalie performance of Game 1. Springfield walked out with the bigger swing.

That resilience has become the story of the Thunderbirds’ run. They had already stormed through Charlotte, then knocked off Providence in four games with Dillon Dube’s overtime winner in Game 4 on May 7 and a 37-save shutout from Georgi Romanov. Providence finished 38 points ahead of Springfield in the regular season, yet the Thunderbirds completed what TheAHL.com called the largest upset in Calder Cup Playoff history. They also became the first AHL team to win two playoff series after finishing the regular season at .500 or lower since the 2001 Hershey Bears.

Now the series shifts again, with Game 3 set for Tuesday and both clubs knowing the tone has changed. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton still has the 101-point pedigree, the depth that showed in a first round where 16 different skaters recorded at least one point against Hershey, and Murashov’s steady numbers, a 1.99 goals-against average and .937 save percentage in that series. Springfield, though, has the one edge numbers cannot fully capture: it keeps surviving the moments that decide playoff series.