WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - After five playoff games, the outlook for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins was bleak. The AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins was facing a 2-0 deficit in the second round of the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs against the Providence Bruins, the minor league affiliate of the Boston Bruins, and decided to make a change in net.
The Penguins yanked recent starter Jeff Zatkoff, who had allowed 12 goals on 40 shots against the Bruins, in favor of former Northeastern great Brad Thiessen. Thiessen was sharp in his first outing on May 15, saving 20-of-22 shots, but allowed an overtime goal in a 2-1 loss that left Wilkes-Barre/Scranton facing a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 hole.
Then Thiessen got hot.
Over the next four games of the series, the Aldergrove, British Columbia, native posted a 0.50 GAA and a .986 save percentage, stopping 143-of-145 shots as the Penguins rallied for four consecutive wins to steal the series.
After stopping 31-of-32 shots in a Game 4 win on May 17, Thiessen came back with a 30-save shutout performance on May 18. He followed that by turning away 46-of-47 shots to even the series at 3-3 on May 20, then closed out the Bruins with his second blanking of the series, stopping all 34 shots he faced on May 22 to clinch the series.
By battling back in the series, Thiessen allowed Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to become the first team in AHL history to rally back from a 3-0 playoff series deficit and clinch a decisive Game 7 on the road. His second playoff shutout was the fourth in his Penguins career, tying him for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton all-time lead with Andy Chiodo. The 46 saves he accumulated in the overtime thriller on May 20 are the most for a Penguin in a playoff game since 2007.
Thiessen has been one of the top two goaltenders for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton since the 2009-10 season, playing in at least 30 games every year since then. His best AHL season came in 2010-11, when he went 35-8-1 with a 1.94 GAA and a .922 save percentage. For his efforts that season, the former Husky backstopper was named the Eastern Conference's starting goaltender in the 2011 AHL All-Star Classic.
In both 2009 and 2010, Thiessen was called up to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the team's playoff runs, earning a ring as part of the 2009 Stanley Cup champion squad. He saw his first NHL time at the tail end of the 2011-12 season, appearing in five games and posting a 3-1 record for the Penguins.
During Thiessen's sterling career at Northeastern, the goaltender rewrote the Huskies' record books. Thiessen left Huntington Avenue as NU's all-time leader in goals against average (2.40), save percentage (.922) and shutouts (nine). He currently sits second all-time in wins (52), fourth in minutes (6661:23) and games played (111). His 2008-09 campaign was one of the best ever, as he set single season records in games played (41), minutes (2495:44), GAA (2.12), saves (1,195), save percentage (.931) and wins (25). He helped lead the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament that year, earning NCAA All-America honors, Hockey East All-Star laurels and was named a Hobey Baker finalist.
Thiessen and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are currently knotted at 1-1 in the AHL Eastern Conference Finals with the Syracuse Crunch (affiliate of the Tampa Bay Lightning). Game 3 is tonight (May 29) at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
.
