SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Springfield Thunderbirds again could not find early offense, eventually falling 2-1 in a tightly-matched Game 3 of the Atlantic Division Finals against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Tuesday night inside the MassMutual Center. The Penguins now lead the best-of-five series two games to one.

After allowing three goals in the third period and one in overtime in Game 2, Penguins netminder Sergei Murashov was outstanding from the onset of Game 3, beginning with a goal-mouth denial on the game's first shot from Zach Dean in the opening moments, set up nicely by Marc-Andre Gaudet.

At the other end, Georgii Romanov continued his stellar postseason by turning away nine in a row to begin his evening. With the T-Birds on a power play in the closing minute of the first, though, the Penguins drew first blood as Avery Hayes sent Rutger McGroarty in on net on a breakaway, where the former first-round pick beat Romanov on the stick side, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead with just 19.1 seconds remaining in the first.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton largely kept the T-Birds at bay in the middle frame, keeping Springfield to just four attempts on Murashov. However, despite a dozen shots of their own, the Penguins had no answers for Romanov, and the one-goal margin carried itself into the final period.

That's where the Penguins finally distanced themselves, as a turnover at the offensive blue line from the T-Birds sent Boko Imama away on a 2-on-1 with red-hot rookie Bill Zonnon, who took a feed in the left circle and whistled it high over Romanov's blocker to give Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the 2-0 lead.

Zonnon's third goal in as many games in his professional career became his second game-winner of the series when Springfield battled its way back to a 2-1 score at 16:21. After cutting down the right wing side, Juraj Pekarcik stopped on a dime, gaining space in the middle of the ice. With Murashov challenging, the young Slovak squeezed a shot through Murashov's body to finally get Springfield on the board with his first career pro playoff goal. 

In the end, though, the T-Birds did not have another dose of late-game magic in them, as Murashov completed his tremendous bounce-back game with 27 stops. Romanov denied 30 of 32, making it eight starts of two or fewer goals allowed for the Springfield goalie in the playoffs.

The Penguins will look to close out the series on Thursday when the clubs reconvene for Game 4 at 7:05 p.m. inside the MassMutual Center. Tickets for the game are available now at www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.

Thunderbirds' Pay As We Play playoff plans are available now for no upfront cost and will still be in effect should the T-Birds advance to the next round. In addition, 2026-27 season tickets are available now - fans can order now by visiting www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com or by calling (413) 739-GOAL (4625).