The Providence Bruins dropped Game 3 of their opening round series against the Springfield Thunderbirds 3-2 in overtime.

That loss puts Providence on the brink of elimination, with the AHL's best regular season team trailing Springfield 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

Providence fell behind 1-0 before two late first-period goals from Matthew Poitras and Riley Tufte gave them the 2-1 lead.

Springfield tied it in the second period, and the 2-2 score carried into overtime.

Here comes the controversy.

Just 3:45 into overtime, Zach Dean threw one in front, and it hit a Bruin and went in past Michael DiPietro.

However, eagle-eyed observers will note the play looked like it could be offside at full speed.

Here's the freeze-frame:

Clearly, it's offside. There's no room for debate or discussion, it's just cut-and-dry.

However, unlike the NHL, the AHL still does not have a review system in place for offside challenges from the team or league:

It's a brutal loss, mixed with bad luck at the end. Providence has only scored six goals in the first three games, scoring just twice in all three games.

Matej Blumel has two goals in three games, while Poitras, Georgii Merkulov, Tufte, and Drew Callin have the other tallies for Providence.

The offense needs to be much better, and Head Coach Ryan Mougenel said that starts in the defensive zone:

"We can't sit here and feel sorry for ourselves," Mougenel told reporters, including Mark Divver. "We've got to figure it out. We just haven't been good. I didn't like us on the back end at all tonight. I didn't like how we defended. I didn't like our urgency."

Providence will play with its season on the line Thursday night in Springfield, where a loss would bring their magical season to a sudden and shocking end, much earlier than anyone anticipated it would.

Providence Drops Game 3 In Controversial Fashion