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The odds were against us.

Providence is the regular season champion.

They won 50 games this season. Fifty. They only play 76.

They lost 9 games at home this season. Nine. Some teams lose nine in a month, they lost nine all season.

The shot disparity tonight was 47-18 Providence tonight. Since the five minute mark of the second period, 37-8 Providence.

I said in the Gameday setup that the Penguins needed to treat this game like Providence was on the brink of elimination. Sometimes the blind squirrel that I am finds a nut every now and again. The Penguins, led by none other than Brad Thiessen, shut the door on the P-Bruins advancing tonight and have done something only four teams in AHL history have ever accomplished and win tonight 2-1 in overtime.

Game 7 is Wednesday.

Brad Thiessen vs. Nik Svedberg. Dylan Reese was back for the Pens on the blueline as the seventh defenseman. Wilkes-Barre dressed the dreaded 11 forwards, 7 defenseman lineup tonight. Scratches were Cody Wild, Dom Uher, Steve MacIntre and Bobby Farnham who was injured in Game 6 with an upper body injury and was not on the trip.

First Period: Great opening jump by the Pens. Then Providence made their push. Jamie Tardif had a wraparound attempt that was labeled for the back of the net but somehow Thiessen got his pad over and denied the shot. Pens would continue to turnover the puck and have difficulty exiting the zone. Somehow, the period broke with no goal scored. Pens were sharp in the opening half, Providence sharper and Thiessen sharpest in the period.

Second Period: Pens would have to kill off a carryover penalty from the first. They do, but on a line change forget about the P-Bruins on the ice with the puck. It would set up to be a three on none on Thiessen and Craig Cunningham would finish it off to put the P-Bruins on the board first. Pens would get a power play, not score. It looked really bad. Pens find themselves all of a sudden in a 5-on-3 situation and Brian Dumoulin would pick a corner and tie the game.

Providence would tighten up and really start to roll the Pens. Wilkes-Barre would be badly, badly, outplayed. Thiessen made miraculous save after miraculous save.

Third Period: Providence throws everything but the kitchen sink at Thiessen. But he literally kept the season alive for the Penguins. He had a huge save on another wraparound bid. Shots this period were 20-2 Providence.

Overtime: Shots were 3-0 Pens in overtime. Then Trevor Smith did this:

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Three Stars: 3) Craig Cunningham (goal, +1) 2) Trevor Smith (game winning overtime goal, assist, +1) and 1) Brad Thiessen (46 saves on 47 shots)

Anything goes in Game 7, Wednesday.

Will the Penguins close out the Bruins? The Bruins threw everything they had at the Pens tonight and could not knock Brad Thiessen or Wilkes-Barre down. It all comes down to Wednesday. Will the Pens shake the second round and out curse they have going?

No matter what happens, we all ride together.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Cardiac Penguins FOREVER.

Let’s Go Pens!!! All In!!!

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Eastern Conference Semifinal — Game 6

AHL Game: I6

Who: Providence Bruins

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center

When: 7:05 p.m.

Series: PRO leads 3-2 (best of seven)

Media Kit

Last Game: Saturday in Wilkes-Barre, Brad Thiessen stopped all 30 shots faced, and the Penguins won 4-0.

Referee(s): Graham Skilliter / Mark Lemelin

Linesmen: Bob Bernard / Alex Stagnone

What to Watch For: After the bad blood that boiled up from Game 5, a more measured aggression by both teams. The Pens need to treat the game like Providence is being eliminated with a loss I think, if they want to advance this to a seventh game. Also keep in mind the P-Bruins were the best at home in regular season.

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @AHLBruins

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /providencebruins

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @MarkDivver

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / PRO: Nick Gagalis @NickGagalis

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Providence: WNRI 1380 AM

Television: AHL Live

When is Game 7?: A Pens loss and there is no Game 7. A Pens win and Game 7 is this Wednesday.

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Eastern Conference Semifinal — Game 5

AHL Game: I5

Who: Providence Bruins

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Series: PRO leads 3-1 (best of seven)

Media Kit

Last Game: Yesterday in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins won 3-1. Joey Mormina had three assists in the game.

Referee(s): Trevor Hanson / Jean Hebert

Linesmen: Tom Geore / Scott Pomento

What to Watch For: If the Penguins play, “their game” they will win tonight. (again) Any deviation off of this and we don’t come back tomorrow.

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @AHLBruins

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /providencebruins

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @MarkDivver

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / PRO: Nick Gagalis @NickGagalis

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep 

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Providence: WNRI 1380 AM

Television: AHL Live

When is Game 6?: A Bruins win wraps the series. A Penguins win and Game 6 is Monday night in Providence.

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I tell you, I had this headline cooked up in my brain right after the Game 3 loss.

I have one if this series gets to six.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins stave off elimination in a 3-1 thriller that has to go down as the best game played for the Pens in the series.

The last two period in Game 2 were great hockey by the Pens, but the deficit was already 4-1 after one period.

In Game 3, the effort was much better, a defensive zone turnover in overtime cost the Pens the game.

Is an 0-3 deficit too big of a hole to climb out of?

Tonight isn’t the night to answer that question.

Brad Thiessen vs. Niklas Svedberg — two lineup changes for the Pens, Bobby Farnham for Christiaan Minella and Peter Merth for Cody Wild.

First Period: Providence opened and possessed the puck like madmen. They score on an Alex Grant turnover. Guess who? Carter Camper banks it off of Thiessen from behind the net to make it 1-0 Bruins. This period would be all about the Bruins manufacturing shots from all areas and the Penguins taking shots that Svedberg could make easy saves on.

Second Period: Pens can’t score on two attempts on a wide open net on the power play. Adam Payerl shuffles a puck to Warren Peters who scores to tie the game at one. Bruins get a power play and almost score. A tired Penguins group of penalty killers are left out after the power play expires and ice the puck.

Here’ where I think the game met its turning point. John Hynes used his timeout to rest the tired bodies on the ice. Before this, Providence was going to score, it was just a matter of when. The timeout worked perfectly because soon after, Merth stretches a pass to Mormina on the far wall who wires a cross ice pass to Holzapfel who one times it in from the low right circle for a 2-1 Wilkes-Barre lead. Providence would take a penalty, and Joey Mormina would slap one home that Chad Kolarik gets a stick on in front to make it 3-1 Pens.

Third Period: Providence opened and rode aggressive puck possession and forecheck pretty much all period. The Penguins did not bend. They shut down two Providence power play attempts in the process as well.

There would be no sweep, instead, Game 5 is tomorrow in Wilkes-Barre.

Huge game by captain Joey Mormina, three assists on the night.

Three Stars: 3) Joey Mormina (three assists, +1) 2) Brad Thiessen (31 saves on 32 shots) and 1) Riley Holzapfel (game winning goal, +2)

Quickly, elsewhere, Syracuse finished off a sweep of the Springfield Falcons winning 5-2 tonight. The Crunch are 7-0 in postseason. Mark French will not be back next season behind the bench for the Hershey Bears. When you are expected to win a Calder Cup every season and do not, a move has to be made.

Anyway, back to this series. Gameday for Game 5 will be up at 3 p.m. Puck drop at 7:05 tomorrow in Wilkes-Barre.

Let’s Go Pens! All In!

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Eastern Conference Semifinal — Game 4

AHL Game: I4

Who: Providence Bruins

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Series: PRO leads 3-0 (best of seven)

Media Kit

Last Game: Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre, the Penguins played arguably the best game of the series yet were still defeated in overtime by a score of 2-1. Carter Camper scored :31 into overtime to put the Penguins on the brink of elimination.

Referee(s): Chris Ciamaga / Terry Koharski

Linesmen: Jud Ritter / Bob Goodman

What to Watch For: If the Penguins play, “their game” they will win tonight. Any deviation off of this and we don’t come back tomorrow.

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @AHLBruins

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /providencebruins

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @MarkDivver

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / PRO: Nick Gagalis @NickGagalis

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep 

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Providence: WNRI 1380 AM

Television: AHL Live

When is Game 5?: A Bruins win wraps the series. A Penguins win and Game 5 is Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre.

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Eastern Conference Semifinal — Game 3

AHL Game: I3

Who: Providence Bruins

Where: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

When: 7:05 p.m.

Series: PRO leads 2-0 (best of seven)

Media Kit

Last Game: Saturday in Providence, the Bruins rode a 4-1 first period lead to a 4-2 win and a 2-0 series lead. Chris Bourque had a goal and two assists in the first period alone.

Referee(s): Mark Lemelin / TJ Luxmore

Linesmen: Jud Ritter / Bob Goodman

What to Watch For: Do the Penguins of the final 40 minutes from Saturday show up or do the Penguins from the first 80 minutes of the series show up? This is your season pretty much right here.

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @AHLBruins

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /providencebruins

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @MarkDivver

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / PRO: Nick Gagalis @NickGagalis

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep 

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Providence: WNRI 1380 AM

Television: AHL Live

When is Game 4?: Friday in Wilkes-Barre at 7:05

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Eastern Conference Semifinal — Game 2

AHL Game: I2

Who: Providence Bruins

Where: Dunkin’ Donuts Center

When: 7:05 p.m.

Series: PRO leads 1-0 (best of seven)

Media Kit

Last Game: Last night the Bruins drew first blood, winning 8-5. Chris Bourque had a goal, three assists and was named fist star of the game. Paul Thompson had two goals and an assist for third star honors.`

Referee(s): Darcy Burchell / Jean Hebert

Linesmen: Kiel Murchison / Alex Stagnone

What to Watch For: After getting completely obliterated last night, a much better effort by the Penguins who know coming back to Wilkes-Barre Wednesday split 1-1 will be a ton better than coming back down 0-2.

Twitter: @WBSPenguins / @AHLBruins

Facebook: /WilkesBarreScrantonPenguins // /providencebruins

Beat Writers: @CVBombulie / @MarkDivver

Broadcasters: WBS: Tom Grace @TGracePens and Mike O’Brien @MikeOBrienWBS / PRO: Nick Gagalis @NickGagalis

Fan Bloggers: @nafsnep 

Radio: For WBS: 102.3 The Mountain / For Providence: WNRI 1380 AM

Television: AHL Live

When is Game 3?: Wednesday in Wilkes-Barre at 7:05