The Hershey Bears will return home with their backs against the wall.
After losing Game 1 in heartbreaking fashion to the Charlotte Checkers, the Bears lost Game 2 in sudden-death overtime and now must win the remaining three games of the best-of-five series at home to avoid elimination.
Swedish center Rasmus Asplund was the hero for the Checkers, tying the game in the third period and then later winning it in overtime. Both tallies came off fortunate bounces.
The Checkers, after being blanked by Hunter Shepard in the first two periods, found paydirt 4:16 into the third period. After a Dennis Cesana shot from the right circle was blocked by Jon McDonald’s right skate, the redirected puck found Asplund in the right circle. The 20-goal scorer in the regular season ripped a quick shot past Shepard, who was unable to recover in time.
The Checkers thought they won in regulation after a shot with about 1:30 remaining in the third period hit underneath the crossbar. A nearly 10-minute review at the end of regulation confirmed the puck did not cross the goal line, sending both teams to the overtime intermission.
Asplund ended the game 3:16 into the extra session. After Ivan Miroshnichenko turned the puck over coming out of the defensive zone, John Leonard — Game 1’s hero and Ryan Leonard’s older brother — raced down on a two-on-one. Leonard couldn’t convert on his first chance, but the puck eventually cycled back over to him at the right circle, where he unleashed a one-timer. The shot went off the goal frame and the end boards, finding Asplund alone near the far post.
The Sabres’ second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft tucked the puck into the yawning net as fans roared at Bojangles Coliseum.
“In overtime, doesn’t matter what sport is: turnovers kill you, and [we] turned the puck over in the neutral zone; it ends up in the back of the net,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said.
After a sluggish start in Game 1, Hershey scored on their second shot of the game. Luke Philp found the back of the net on a one-timer 2:33 into the first period.
But Hershey could not solve Checkers goaltender Kaapo Kähkönen further, putting only 18 shots on net in the game. The Bears’ power play, which has struggled for much of the postseason, went 0 for 2. Shepard stopped 27 of 29 shots in the loss.
Hershey is attempting to become only the second AHL team in the league’s history to three-peat. They will now return home where they’ll try to chip away at the Checkers’ series lead. Game 3 is on Wednesday at Giant Center. If the Bears can come out victorious that night, Game 4 will be Thursday, while Game 5, if necessary, would be played Saturday.
“Well, obviously disappointed, but I just told them we have to do it the hard way, we have home ice advantage for a reason, and it’s going to be tough,” Nelson said. “But we just have to focus on Game 3.”
Notes: Ethan Bear made his postseason debut after the Capitals returned him to the team. Nelson played Bear on the second pairing with Chase Priskie. Henrik Rybinski returned from injury and skated on the third line with Bogdan Trineyev and Pierrick Dubé.
