PROVIDENCE � It all but looked certain that the Providence Bruins would exit the Dunkin� Donuts Center with a 2-1 series lead on Wednesday night.

But in this second-round Calder Cup playoff series with the Wilkes-Bare/Scranton Penguins, nothing is certain. And in Game Three, no lead was safe.

The P-Bruins lost a 4-1 third-period lead and eventually fell, 5-4, in double overtime. Simon Despres scored the game-winner at 6:32 to give the Penguins a 2-1 series lead.

Game Four is set for Friday, at 7:05 p.m., in Providence.

�It is hard to describe right now,� said defenseman Mike Moore. �We came out like we wanted to. We had a lot of energy in that first half of the period. They�re a good team and we knew they were going to make a push. They were able to capitalize on some chances.�

Providence went into the third period with a 2-1 lead after getting second-period goals from Seth Griffith and Joe Morrow. Then in a matter of 66 seconds, the game looked all but won. Blake Palette and Alexander Khokhlachev scored 1:06 into the third and the P-Bruins had a commanding 4-1 lead.

But in a series that�s seen 11 combined goals in the first two games, the offensive onslaught continued.

Tom Kostopoulos jumpstarted the Penguins with a power-play goal at 7:37. Niklas Svedberg was solid throughout the first two periods, but then the wheels fell off.

Despres scored his first goal of the game at 12:12 and then Conor Sheary netted the equalizer at 14:09 to deflate the P-Bruins. All-in-all, the Penguins scored three goals off of nine shots in the third period.

�Well, we didn�t make enough plays. You knew they were going to come. They�re a good team,� coach Bruce Cassidy said. �They had nothing to lose at that point. In reality they didn�t have a lot of chances, but the ones they had the puck got to the net. They kept it simple and were better than us in front of our net.�

Down 1-0 in the second period, Providence came back with a power-play goal from Griffith, at 15:16, and then a go-ahead tally from Morrow, at 18:33.

After five combined goals in the third period, the offense came to a screeching halt in the first overtime period as Peter Mannino stopped 14 shots and Svedberg 11. In the second overtime, Adam Payerl had a breakaway in the opening minutes of the second overtime, but Svedberg came up with the big save.

He couldn�t come up with another as Despres beat him glove side from the right point.

�We felt really good at times. Obviously right now that feeling isn�t a positive one,� Moore said. �That�s a part of the ride. They�re a good team that�s going to keep on coming so we have to play for the full 60 minutes or more if necessary.�

�It�s disappointing,� added Cassidy. �But this is a group that learned the hard way all year and (Wednesday) we learned another lesson.�