One win away from its first final-four appearance since 2014, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton takes a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 of the Atlantic Division finals at Springfield tonight (7:05 ET, 
).
With 14:02 left in regulation, Bill Zonnon scored his third goal in as many games to begin his professional career and it held up as the game-winner in Tuesday’s 2-1 Penguins victory.
“I’ve just been getting bounces,” Zonnon said after Game 3. “My teammates have been doing a lot of work to create space for me to go in and finish. I’ve been pretty lucky as well. Once you work, do the right stuff, luck is on your side.”
Rutger McGroarty scored on a shorthanded breakaway with 19.1 seconds left in the opening period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. The Pens have scored first in six of their seven playoff games; Springfield has allowed the first goal in eight of 10 postseason contests.
Sergei Murashov (5-2, 1.80, .942) made 27 saves as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton moved to 3-0 on the road in these playoffs.
In their last six games, the Thunderbirds have played with a lead for a total of 44 seconds. They have already won two elimination games, both in the first round at Charlotte with Georgii Romanov (6-3, 1.68, .946) stopping 63 of 66 shots in those victories.
“It was a close game, but a loss is a loss,” Springfield head coach Steve Ott said. “We want to be on the right side of the game, but there were so many things we were happy with.”
Chicago gets one more crack at closing out the Central Division finals on home ice tonight, hosting Grand Rapids in Game 4 at Allstate Arena (8 ET, ). A potential Game 5 would be back in Grand Rapids on Saturday.
Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (4-3-7) scored 9:22 into overtime as the Griffins survived their first elimination test and grabbed a 4-3 win on Tuesday. It was the third game-winning goal of the postseason for the 20-year-old Norwegian forward, Detroit’s first-round pick (15th overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft.
Road teams are now 10-4 in overtime during the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.
For the second game in a row, Grand Rapids built a 2-0 lead before the contest was five minutes old. But also for the second game in a row, the Wolves responded, this time taking a 3-2 lead before Tyler Angle – a Game 2 scratch for the Griffins – tied the game back up with 7:14 gone in the second period.
Griffins forward John Leonard (1-4-5), who scored a team-best 33 goals in just 47 games in the regular season, found the net for the first time this postseason in Game 3. Carter Mazur (5-1-6) added his fifth goal in the last five games, and Erik Gustafsson (1-5-6) and Sheldon Dries (1-4-5) each notched two assists.
“I thought we were very good,” Griffins head coach Dan Watson said. “We stuck to the game plan; our guys were dialed in mentally and physically. Chicago made it hard on us, but we were resilient. Our guys deserved to win.”
Grand Rapids finished Game 3 with a 46-20 advantage in shots on goal, including 28-9 after Chicago went ahead early in the second period. Cayden Primeau (5-3, 2.34, .922) made 42 saves for the Wolves, while Felix Unger Sörum (3-4-7) extended his scoring streak to four games with a goal and an assist.
