The Atlantic Division Final got underway at Giant Center on Thursday night. In a rematch of the same round a year ago, the Hershey Bears and the Hartford Wolf Pack squared off. In the first game, Hershey put forth their best effort of the postseason to date in scoring a 6-1 win. The Bears hit every beat they needed to in order to win with six different players scoring goals. Game Two is set for Saturday night in the Sweetest Place on Earth.
Masked Madness
The drama kicked off as early as the teams hitting the ice for warmups. Dylan Garand, who has been a rock for the Wolf Pack in the playoffs, was nowhere to be seen. The New York Rangers had recalled him with Louis Domingue ailing a bit prior to their game. The announcement of the recall coincided with the start of warmups as a surprise move. Eventual starter Olof Lindbom had only six games to his credit at the AHL level entering play.
Adding to the drama in the series, the Rangers staged a comeback win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday. The win moves the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals and will keep the goalie carousel going. Hartford has Talyn Boyko as well as Hugo Ollas on their roster, two 6’8 goaltenders in the early stages of their careers.
Battling Bears
It was a slow start to the game as the teams got a feel for each other early on. Shots and quality scoring opportunities were at a premium early on. Hershey’s fourth line provided the spark they needed to get on the board first. After some strong work along the boards, Chase Priskie held the puck in at the point. He’d activate off the point and take a pass from Henrik Rybinski with a ton of space. His shot beat Lindbom through a screen by Bogdan Trineyev to open the scoring.
“They’ve been excellent,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said of the fourth line. “Rybinski has really upped his game, so has Trineyev. Matt Strome is a solid, 200-foot player. The unfortunate thing is that they took a lot of penalties, they kill penalties for us. It is a luxury, you can put them out against their top line and feel comfortable they’ll shut them down.”
“They got us going. They had some zone time, had a great play on Priskie’s goal and got everyone else going. It dragged everyone into the fight.”
One of the biggest areas the Bears have yet to thrive in is the power play. After coming up with only two goals in 16 tries versus Lehigh Valley, Hershey matched that in a single game. Early in the second period, Ethen Frank teed up a blast from the left-wing side perfectly placed to the far corner. Frank registered his fourth goal of the playoffs to boost the home team ahead by two.
Trading Tallies
Hartford broke through with a goal from their own leading scorer, Jake Leschyshyn, just under two minutes later. A fumble at the blue line by the Bears sent the Wolf Pack’s leading scorer on a breakaway. Leschyshyn lifted a shot past the outstretched stick of Hunter Shepard going for a poke check to cut the lead in half. His fourth goal of the postseason brought the score to 2-1 and upped the intrigue.
Hershey responded with suffocating defense, allowing only seven shots on goal through two periods of play. On a power play, the Bears restored their two-goal lead on a tally from Alex Limoges. Hendrix Lapierre fired a very deflectable shot towards the net, which Limoges redirected into Lindbom’s pads. The rebound spat out for the forward to tap into the net for his second of the playoffs.
The Bears added one more just over a minute later. More good work on the boards saw Mike Vecchione move the puck to Lucas Johansen at the point. His shot redirected off of Garrett Roe at the net front to give Hershey a 4-1 lead. The 36-year-old Roe tallied his first career Calder Cup Playoff goal a game after making an impact in his return to the lineup.
Bears Blitz
The drama didn’t end in the third period as the Bears added some more goals. Ivan Miroshnichenko stole the puck at the point and took it the other way. He’d beat Lindbom on a breakaway with the same move from a game prior on Cal Petersen. Lindbom departed the game after the goal after appearing to suffer an injury on the goal. The injury forced Boyko into action for just under nine minutes of play.
Hershey wasn’t done there. Down a man in the third, the Bears broke out of the zone on a shorthanded rush. Rybinski helped to create some space for Jimmy Huntington, who weaved through the defense and beat the goaltender. Huntington tallied his first postseason goal as a Bear to cap the scoring at 6-1.
A Long Road Ahead
“Off the start of the game, we were kind of on our heels a bit. We were going back with the puck instead of heading north. Once we made that adjustment, we started getting more offensive zone time and things started opening up for us.”
Nelson had the previous series with Lehigh Valley on his mind when looking ahead at the series. Hershey had a flat effort in Game Three after a productive win the game prior. In a short series, any weakness can give an opportunity to their opponent. Hershey’s bench boss made sure to address that with his group right away that the action is only going to intensify from here.
“We already talked about it in the room. Last time we won 5-1, we were junk the next game. We have to make sure we stay humble, keep our heads straight, and understand it’s not going to be like that every time. It’s going to be a battle next game.”
Up Next
The two teams will rematch in the second game of the series on Saturday night at Giant Center with a 7:00 PM EST puck drop.
