Bears Drop Game 5 to Monsters by 5-1 Score
June 8, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release
(Cleveland, OH) - Logan Day scored his first of the playoffs, but the Hershey Bears (9-3) fell to the Cleveland Monsters (7-4) in a 5-1 defeat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The loss marked the first time throughout the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs that Hershey had dropped consecutive games in regulation after the Bears fell 3-2 in Game 4 on Thursday.
Hershey struck first at 12:11 of the first period when Hardy Häman Aktell fed the puck back to Day, who beat Jet Greaves with a wrist shot that struck off the post and into the net.
Alex Whelan leveled the score for Cleveland at 1-1 at 2:48 of the second period.
Cleveland then jumped ahead at 9:35 with a power-play goal that came off a wild carom off the end-wall glass and dropped over the crossbar to an open Josh Dunne, who batted in the go-ahead score to make it 2-1.
Brendan Gaunce struck at 11:49 and 16:29 to put the Monsters up 4-1 before the intermission.
Hershey began the third by replacing Hunter Shepard with Clay Stevenson, who made his Calder Cup Playoffs debut.
Dunne completed the scoring to make it 5-1 at 15:58 with a spin-around backhand shot that he slipped through Stevenson.
Shots finished 34-25 in favor of the Bears. Shepard went 16-for-20 in the loss, while Stevenson went 4-for-5 in relief; Greaves went 33-for-34 in the win for Cleveland. The Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play; the Monsters went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
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American Hockey League Stories from June 8, 2024
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- Monsters Force Game 6 After 5-1 Win Over Bears Bringing Eastern Conference Finals Series to 3-2 - Cleveland Monsters
- Bears Drop Game 5 to Monsters by 5-1 Score - Hershey Bears
- Coachella Valley Firebirds Win Second Consecutive Western Conference Championship - AHL
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