No matter what else happens in Bill Zonnon’s pro career, he’s never going to forget how it started.
Three playoff games. Three goals. And both game-winners for the Penguins so far in the Atlantic Division Finals.
Zonnon finished off an odd-man rush early in the third period and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rebounded from a painful Game 2 collapse to beat Springfield 2-1 in Game 3 on Tuesday at MassMutual Center.
With the win, the Penguins also went up 2-1 in the best-of-five series and will have two chances to close it out against the Thunderbirds. Game 4 is set for Thursday in Massachusetts and Game 5 would shift things back to Wilkes-Barre Township on Saturday, if needed.
Zonnon has done his very best to put the Penguins in this situation.
The rookie — who signed an amateur tryout agreement to join the team two weeks ago after his junior season in Canada ended — has a goal in all three games he has suited up.
He broke the ice in Game 1, a 2-0 shutout victory for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He added a power-play marker to again open the scoring in Game 2, but the Penguins blew a 3-0 lead in the third period and lost 4-3 in overtime.
On Tuesday, the Penguins were already leading 1-0 courtesy of a Rutger McGroarty shorthanded goal when the fourth line, centered by Zonnon struck.
Forcing a turnover at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton blue line, the forwards quickly pushed things the other way with Atley Calvert passing to Boko Imama on the rush. Imama fed a streaking Zonnon, who quickly beat T-Birds goalie Georgii Romanov stick-side to make it 2-0.
The Penguins had to sweat things out again as Juraj Pekarcik scored for Springfield with 3:39 left in regulation. The T-Birds looked to score the equalizer with the goalie pulled for the second straight game but couldn’t pull it off.
As it was, Penguins netminder Sergei Murashov finished with 27 saves on 28 shots, edging Romanov, who stopped 30 of 32 on the night.
Both Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goals came off the rush. The Penguins got a major boost while killing a penalty late in the first as Avery Hayes won a puck battle, drew three Springfield players toward him in the neutral zone, then fed a wide-open McGroarty for a breakaway.
McGroarty, who also scored in Game 3 of the last series — an overtime winner in Hershey — snapped it home for a 1-0 lead with just 20 seconds left in the opening frame.
Both teams finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
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