Hershey Bears

Bears/Phantoms Make AHL History As Road Team Wins All 5 Games

Photos by Scott Payonk

This Bears/Phantoms series will go down in AHL history as it was only the second time in the 80 year history of the AHL that all five games were won by the road team.

Hershey won the first game 1-0 in overtime on a goal by Nathan Walker then scored three goals in the third period of game 2. Chris Bourque scored his second of the period with 33 seconds left to give the Bears a 2-0 series lead heading back to Hershey.

Phantoms goalie Alex Lyon suffered an injury in game 2 so come in Martin Ouellette who spent most of the year with the Reading Royals.  After allowing two goals on four shots in 11 minutes of action to finish game two, Ouellette would allow a total of two in two games (plus an overtime) in Hershey.

In game 5, the Bears jumped out to an early 2 goal lead on goals from Stanislav Galiev and Christian Thomas, who has been in for Jakub Vrana for games four and five, at the end of the first period. Lehigh Valley would cut the lead in half before Colby Williams gave the Bears a 3-1 lead that would eventually be the series clincher.

Galiev lead the Bears in points with 3 goals and two assists followed by Riley Barber who had four assists. Defenseman Tom Gilbert had two assists in game 5 and was steady on the blue line to help the Bears advance. Pheonix Copley stopped 152 of 163 (.933 save percentage) shots he faced in the opening round. After being reacquired in the Kevin Shattenkirk trade, he has been the backstrop the Bears needed just to get into the playoffs.

The Bears will face the Providence Bruins in the second round after Providence stunned the regular season champions the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins behind a 50 save performance from Zane McIntyre in game 5. The series will follow a 2-3-2 format with game 1 in Hershey on Saturday. This marks the third year in a row that the Bears will be in the second round. It is also the third year in a row that the Caps, Bears, and Stingrays all made it to the second round of the playoffs.

Highlights from Game 5

Photos from Game 5

Brandon Alter

Brandon Alter covers all three teams in the Washington Capitals Organization. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in May of 2021.

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