AHL Hershey Bears

Square Series Shifts To Chocolatetown

April 25, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club split the first two games of its Atlantic Division semifinal series against the Portland Pirates at Cross Insurance Arena, and now returns home for the remainder of the matchups.

The series opened on Friday night, and the Pirates came storming out of the gate. After Dan Ellis made two spectacular saves on a Corban Knight breakaway and a Rocco Grimaldi shot from the slot, Kyle Rau powered along the goal line after a faceoff win and tucked the puck over the line for a 1-0 lead. Portland would then go ahead 2-0 on a line rush, when Rob Schremp backhanded a bouncing puck in with 1:56 left in the first. Ryan Stanton scored Hershey's first playoff goal in a four-on-four situation, but Portland restored their two-goal cushion early in the second. After Jakub Vrana cut the deficit to one again, an early flurry in the third period by Portland would give the team a 5-2 lead. Goals by Shane Harper and Schremp were separated by just 11 seconds, which forced the Bears to use their timeout. The team responded nicely, with Tyler Lewington taking complete control by scoring twice in a span of 7:25 to bring Hershey within a goal. Riley Barber nearly completed the comeback but would be denied by Mike McKenna on two goal-line chances. Portland's Harper then scored a power play goal with less than 10 seconds on the clock to seal a 6-4 victory.

The teams battled it out in game two on the very next night, with Justin Peters getting the start in goal against McKenna. Hershey made sure to eliminate Friday night's errors and played a near-perfect game. Peters made 31 saves to pick up the game's first-star honor, while Barber scored a power-play goal and added an assist in a 3-1 decision. After a scoreless opening stanza - the spotlight of which was stolen by both goaltenders - Hershey grabbed its first lead of the series. Captain Garrett Mitchell pulled up on the left faceoff dot, and fired a snap shot that flew past McKenna's right arm for a 1-0 lead 1:41 into the second period. Peters stood tall on two subsequent Pirates power play chances, but with 1:58 left in the period, defenseman Sena Acolatse snuck in and one-timed a pass from Connor Brickley into the net to knot the score. Barber's power- play strike at 1:31 of the third period became the eventual game-winner, a perfect shot into the upper-right corner fed by Christian Djoos. Vrana would later deposit the rebound of a Carter Camper shot at 8:07, giving Peters and the Bears the necessary insurance to take to the final horn.

The best-of-five series is now tied at one game each and returns to Chocolatetown for its conclusion. Game three will be played on Thursday and game four on Saturday. If necessary, game five will take place on Sunday.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

NEW MILESTONES IN SIGHT: After capturing his second John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL's leading scorer; after being voted the recipient of the Les Cunningham Award as the league's most valuable player; and after being named to the AHL First All-Star Team, star forward Chris Bourque began the postseason with two assists in his 101st career Calder Cup playoff game. Among all AHL players, Bourque now ranks tied for 16th with John Stevens in playoff games played (102); he ranks seventh in playoff scoring (25-72-97); and is now tied with former teammate Keith Aucoin for third in assists (72). In Hershey, Bourque ranks second in all-time playoff assists (50) and third in all-time playoff points (16-50-66). He needs seven points to tie the legendary Mike Nykoluk (13-60-73, 1958-72).

BIG DEBUT FOR BOYD: Forward Travis Boyd made his Calder Cup playoff debut on Friday, notching two assists and a plus-one rating. He followed that up with an assist on Saturday's game-winning goal, and ranks tied for second among all AHL first-year pros in assists (three) and tied for fourth in points (0-3- 3).

TYLER TALLIES TWO: Rookie defenseman Tyler Lewington had a memorable Calder Cup playoff debut on Friday night, scoring back-to-back third-period goals. Lewington is tied for the lead among all playoff defensemen in goals, leads in shooting percentage (100%) and is tied for ninth in points (2- 0-2). He earned Friday's third star for his efforts.

BARBER STARS: After being held off of the score sheet on Friday, rookie Riley Barber buried the game-winning goal on Saturday - Hershey's first and only power play goal of the series to date - and added an assist for second- star honors. Barber finished as Hershey's leading 2015-16 rookie scorer.

HELPFULNESS: Defenseman Aaron Ness is tied for the postseason lead among defensemen with three assists in the Bears' two games. He is also tied with Travis Boyd for the Bears' playoff scoring lead.

STELLAR PETERS: On Saturday, goaltender Justin Peters made his first Calder Cup playoff appearance since April 29, 2010 - when his Albany River Rats took on Hershey - and ended up with a 31-save, first-star effort. Peters' last AHL playoff win was on April 19, 2010, a 5-3 win at W-B/Scranton.

BEARS BULLETS: Hershey and Portland are locked in their first playoff series since the epic 2006 Eastern Conference Finals, claimed in seven games by the Bears...The Bears rank fourth on the road and tied for sixth overall in playoff penalty killing (9/10=90%)...Rookie Jakub Vrana has scored in back-to-back playoff games and is tied for second in rookie shooting percentage (66.7%)...Defensemen have factored into the first six of Hershey's seven goals in the series...The Bears, who finished third in regular-season offense, rank tied for fourth in the playoffs (3.50 goals/game).

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