Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Aidan McDonough (8) skates with the puck during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Mohegan Arena. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
The Toronto Marlies celebrate after scoring first during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Mohegan Arena. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Avery Hayes (85) and Rutger McGroarty (2) collide during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Mohegan Arena. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Aidan McDonough (8) skates with the puck during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final on Friday at Mohegan Arena. JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Eight times in the storied history of the American Hockey League Calder Cup playoffs a team won a best-of-7 series after losing the first two games on home ice.
The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will try to make it nine.
They face an 0-2 deficit after dropping the first two games of the Eastern Conference Final to the Toronto Marlies at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. The series heads to Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto for Game 3 on Monday at 7 p.m.
On a positive note, the Penguins account for two of the eight previous occasions where teams came back after losing the first two at home.
In 2006, in the East Division Semifinals, the Penguins lost the first two games to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at home. They won the next two in Bridgeport, lost Game 5 in overtime at home, won Game 6 at Bridgeport in overtime, then won Game 7 at home to take the series. Then in 2011, again in the East Division Semifinals, the Penguins lost the first two games at home to the Norfolk Admirals, but won the next four — including three in Norfolk. That is the last time a team accomplished the feat.
Toronto also did it. In 2008, the Marlies lost the first two games of the North Division Final at home to the Syracuse Crunch and trailed, 3-1, in the series before rallying to win the final three games.
Other teams to do it were the 1960 Rochester Americans over the Cleveland Barons, 4 games to 3, in the semifinals; the 1989 Adirondack Red Wings over the Hershey Bears, 4-3, in semifinals. In fact, Adirondack also lost Game 3, then won the next four to advance and eventually win the Calder Cup; the 1994 Adirondack Red Wings over the Springfield Indians, 4-2, in the first round; the 1997 Hershey Bears over the Springfield Falcons, 4-3, in the semifinals. Hershey went on to win the Calder Cup; and the 2010 Hershey Bears over the Texas Stars, 4-2, in the Calder Cup Final.
“It’s a long series. We’re not out of this by any means,” said forward Tanner Howe, who scored the Penguins’ lone goal in Game 2. “We’re excited to go to Toronto, play our style, play our game, get back to what we do.
“We’ve been good on the road all year. Nothing changes for us. We’re going to go in there, like I said, and play our game, get back to what we do. I think good things are going to happen.”
Michael Pezzetta scored the go-ahead goal with 1:36 remaining in the third period and Logan Shaw added an empty-netter with 48 seconds left to give Toronto a 4-2 win in Game 1. Then in Game 2, Pezzetta again had the game-winner on a fluky, disputed goal at 14:53 of overtime. He flipped the puck in the air from the left point. Both Penguins goalie Sergei Murashov and the Marlies’ Marc Johnstone jumped for it and the puck went into the net. Immediately, the referee waved it off. But after video review — not for goalie interference since that can’t be reviewed, but for whether Johnstone knocked it in with his hand — the puck went off Murashov’s left arm and in and it was ruled a good goal.
“I didn’t love our game in Game 1, but I don’t think it was lack of effort,” Penguins coach Kirk MacDonald said. “It’s been two one-shot games. We’re going to go there and try to win the next one-shot game.
“We know they’re really good, they’re a veteran group. We just have to regroup. I have the utmost confidence in the guys that they’re going to come out with a great effort.”
If the Penguins are to come back, they have to find a way to solve Artur Akhtyamov. The Marlies goalie stopped 67 of 70 shots. In fact, during Toronto’s current four-game winning streak — the last two games of the North Division Final against the Cleveland Monsters and the first two games against the Penguins — Akhtyamov has not allowed more than two goals in a game and stopped 125 of 132 shots.
“We’ve got to continue to get to the paint (crease),” MacDonald said. “This time of the year, the ice is bad. It is what it is. Not just here, but everywhere. It’s hot outside, there’s more people in the building. So you’ve got to be more cognizant of getting there. Sometimes making the play seems like the right idea, but sometimes just getting pucks there and having people drive to the net, drive to the back post, trying to create second-chance opportunities. The intent was there (Friday). But like I said, two really good goalies, two really good teams. We’re going to get back to work.”
Even though his team is heading home with a 2-0 lead, Toronto coach John Gruden knows the series is far from over.
“We know how good this (Penguins) team is,” Gruden said. “I think we did a lot of good things that we can show how we had success (Friday), which is going to be important. There’s not a bigger game than Game 3. They always say whoever wins Game 3 a lot of times wins series. We know that, we’re going to be ready for it and we’ll be excited for it.
“With the travel, we get three at home. So we’ve got to take care of business. We’ve got to continue to do what we did in Game 2. We should be excited. No one’s going to go away easily, we know it’s going to be hard. So we’ll embrace that challenge, move forward and look forward to Monday night.”
In the Western Conference Final, the Colorado Eagles and Chicago Wolves are tied, 1-1, in their best-of-7 series after Colorado won Game 2 on Saturday night, 5-2. The next three games are in Chicago, starting with Game 3 on Tuesday.