The Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 7-3 victory against Ottawa tonight, but it was their AHL-affiliates that made history.
Boston’s farm team, the Providence Bruins, took a 3-0 series lead against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Eastern Conference semifinals. However, the Penguins earned four straight wins including a 5-0 victory on Wednesday to become just the third team in the league’s 77-year history to overcome that kind of a deficit, according to AHL.com.
Of course, this will no doubt bring up memories of Boston’s collapse from a 3-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 NHL Eastern Conference semifinals.
In fact, 35-year-old forward Trent Whitfield has now had the misfortune of being on the wrong end of history twice, as The Hockey Writers’ Wayne Whittaker pointed out.
Of course, the Boston Bruins bounced back from their humiliation and won the Stanley Cup in 2011. Perhaps that will comfort Providence as they reflect on this series.
It’s also worth adding that Providence was without defenseman Matt Bartkowski and Torey Krug for most of this series. Bartkowski played in five postseason contests with Providence, but didn’t play at all against the Penguins. Krug participated in the first two games before also being summoned by Boston.
Meanwhile, Boston has a 3-0 lead on the New York Rangers going into Game 4 on Thursday.