The Capitals' AHL affiliate fell to the Kraken's AHL affiliate, 4-3.
The Washington Capitals' AHL-affiliate Hershey Bears didn't get off to the start they wanted to kick off the Calder Cup Finals against the Coachella Valley Firebirds, dropping a 4-3 decision on home ice in Game 1.
Head coach Todd Nelson told reporters after the game, though, that the Bears are ready to hit reset and recharge, and that there may have been some fatigue and emotion that carried over from Game 7 against the Cleveland Monsters.
“We looked mentally tired at times, making mistakes, puck decision mistakes, just not bearing down on passing or receiving," Nelson said, adding, "So we got to recharge the batteries here, because it’s every other day.”
After Joe Snively found twine just 1:15 minutes into the contest, the Firebirds tilted the ice, making it a 3-1 game halfway through the second period. Though Hardy Häman Aktell pulled Hershey within one just minutes later, Coachella Valley quickly responded to regain its two-goal lead.
Hendrix Lapierre would score his fifth of the playoffs in the third period to give his team some life with another multi-point outing, and he also leads the AHL in scoring this postseason.
The late rally featured some good passing and chances, but it wasn't enough as Hershey failed to get pucks on net and find the equalizer against Chris Driedger, who stopped 16 of 19 shots.
"We have to have a shooting mindset when we get on the 6-on-5… try to create some havoc," head coach Todd Nelson told reporters after the loss.
The Bears were also heavily shorthanded on the blue line, as Vincent Iorio, Lucas Johansen, Aaron Ness and Jon McDonald were all unavailable due to injury. Dmitry Osipov drew in and impressed in his Calder Cup Playoffs debut.
While Nelson was satisfied with how the defensive pairings shook out in Game 1, he said that things could still change, and also noted that the mistakes in front of Shepard need to be cleaned up.
"I think (Shepard) was just like everybody else, maybe emotionally and mentally tired but he make some really big stops for us once again. The mistakes that were made in front of him, that’s preventable, that’s on us… everybody falls in the same boat. we just got to recharge the batteries here," Nelson said.
Hershey will look to even the series on Sunday at home.
