When the Providence Bruins entered the overtime period tied with Syracuse 1-1, the thought of not having won a playoff game in the extra frame since 2015 – four of those losses coming this year alone – entered the minds of fans at the Dunkin Donuts Center during Game 2 on Sunday night. Jordan Szwarz made those thoughts disappear.

Szwarz’s second goal of the game 8:28 into overtime Zane McIntyre’s 29 saves helped Providence snap their eight-game playoff overtime losing streak with a 2-1 win over Syracuse and evened their best of seven Eastern Conference series at 1-1.

“[We played] a very determine game,” P-Bruins coach Kevin Dean said following the victory. “We fell behind. There was some frustration creeping in. I was proud of the way we stuck with it.”

As they had done in the first game, Syracuse struck quick. Just 1:26 into the game, Ben Thomas would catch a pass backdoor from Mathieu Brodeur and flick it past McIntyre for his second goal of the playoffs. Tye McGinn would also be credited with an assist.

Providence, for much of the opening period, still appeared to be fatigued from the Hershey series. For the first time it what has seemed like a very long time, Providence was outshot in a period at home, 11-6. Syracuse generated the majority of chances throughout the frame. Providence did have two power-play opportunities, but only two shots were fired on net…by Syracuse.

But in the second, Providence found its groove, outshooting Syracuse 9-0 to start. Still, Providence could not beat Mike McKenna in the early stages of the middle stanza. But then, Providence finally broke through, on the power-play nonetheless. Ten seconds into their third man-advantage of the night, Jordan Szwarz would take a nice feed from Danton Heinen and rip it past McKenna for his fourth of the playoffs at 16:47 to even the score at one apiece heading into the third.

A classic goaltenders duel between McIntyre and McKenna highlighted the third period as both starters made some timely saves and stood on their heads. McIntyre, in particular, came up big less than halfway through the period after a P-Bruins turnover in their own zone. McKenna countered with a spectacular save on Chris Casto’s wrist shot from the blue-line.

Overtime was more of the same, with the P-Bruins generating some quality scoring chances and outshooting Syracuse. At 8:28, the overtime bounce that had eluded Providence for so very long finally came. Heinen would dig the puck out from the left corner and slung it over to Wayne Simpson on the other side of the net. Simpson would then hit a close-by Szwarz at the face-off dot, who spun around a release a wicked wrist shot that beat McKenna top shelf.

“Good forecheck there from Heinen to move the puck East to West and relieve some of the pressure,” Szwarz said describing the events leading up to the goal. “Simmer [Wayne Simpson] made a nice play over to me and their winger just kind of backed off, gave me a little time and I just tried to get a puck on the net. Fortunately, it went in.”

As the series now moves to Syracuse, the win comes as not only a huge momentum-builder from the P-Bruins but a huge relief for them as well. With the overtime victory, the P-Bruins now know that they are truly capable picking up a win, even if they are forced to work a little extra.

“Yeah, it’s obviously on our mind,” Szwarz said about the overtime skid. “It’s kind of depressing, losing in overtime, anytime you battle all that way and then you come up short. We were just talking about how good of a feeling it would be to get the win and get the momentum back our way.”

The pivotal Game 3 is set for Wednesday night at 7:05, the first of three scheduled in Syracuse.

The P-Bruins injury bug infected another key skater as Noel Acciari was out with an upper-body injury, joining Peter Cehlarik, Sean Kuraly and Rob O’Gara on the injury list. Peter Mueller, who sat out Game 1 with a lower body injury, returned to the lineup and tallied two shots on goal in Game 2.