HERSHEY, PA — On the scoreboard, at least, the Hershey Bears had their largest margin of victory on Sunday since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals when they defeated the Cleveland Monsters 6-2.
The Bears’ 5-2 win over the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 2 of the Calder Cup Finals evened the championship series 1-1 after a narrow, but seemingly never-in-doubt Firebirds’ 4-3 victory in Game 1 at Giant Center.
The triumph at home was huge as the series turns to three consecutive games in Coachella Valley. But when Hershey head coach Todd Nelson walked into the media room, he was in a dour mood, sharing his concerns with his his team’s underlying play.
“Well, let’s all be honest here,” Nelson said. “I think we got away with one tonight. Let’s call a spade a shovel here. [If] Shep doesn’t play extremely well, we don’t win that game. And we were opportunistic with our chances. They elevated their game and we got worse, maybe because they elevated their game.”
Hunter Shepard, the AHL’s reigning playoff MVP, was the First Star of the night after making 32 saves in net and stopping several breakaways and point-blank chances.
Arguably, Shepard’s best save came in the first period where, as he was sliding to the other side of the ice, he extended to the far post to make a glove save in the other direction.
“I thought a lot of the time played really well and had some opportunities,” Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma said. “Shepherd came up with three or four big glove saves. And it kind of was the difference in the second period when we were really pushing. It’s a playoff game. They capitalized on mistakes we made.”
The most maddening part of the game for Nelson was arguably a 12 minute and 33 second span where the Hershey Bears went shotless in the second period. But instead of paying for it on the scoreboard, Bears’ forward Alex Limoges pick-pocketed Firebirds’ goaltender Chris Driedger behind the net and found Jimmy Huntington wide open to give the Bears a 2-1 lead.
“In the second period, that stretch, that’s two games now in the second period where we’re getting hemmed into our zone because we’re not able to make plays,” Nelson said. “Give them credit. They’re working hard; they have their legs tonight. So I’m happy with the win, but we have to be a lot better if we want to extend this series.”
Another worrying symptom of poor play was when the Bears committed a cardinal sin in the third period. The Bears came out of intermission flat and unprepared surrendering a goal to Firebirds’ forward Marian Studenic in the first minute, narrowing their lead to 3-2.
“Let’s go back to the first shift, the third period,” Nelson said. “Put Lapierre’s out there, and arguably our top shutdown pairing, we get scored on 17 seconds in the period. That’s unacceptable, okay? But down the stretch, we did a really good job on the 6-on-4, and they pulled the goalie. I thought our 5v6 was pretty good. But what’s the most important shift? I think the first shift of every period and last shift of every period. And that was on us, we had the puck on our tape.”
Three hours after the Bears defeated the Firebirds, the team boarded “Bear Force One”, which in this instance was the New England Patriots’ charter plane, and flew cross-country to California to prepare for Games 3, 4, and 5 at Acrisure Arena and begin acclimating to the Pacific Standard Time. Nelson planned to have a chat with his team to try and fix the issues he saw.
“Well, we’ve just got to talk about it, look at some video, and get our guys’ heads screwed on straight,” Nelson said. “We’re making mental errors and maybe it’s because of the pressure. It’s simply — they’re a quick team. I’ve seen us do stuff in the D-zone that we haven’t done all year long. I don’t know why it’s creeping in right now. We’ve played against teams at heavy end. Look at Lehigh, they get O-zone time. This team is no different, so I’m not sure why. We’ll have to take a look at the video and make sure we get our guys’ heads on straight and get some rest. That’s the message right now, is ‘Get our rest, and we have to be better in Game 3,’ and we certainly do.
“It couldn’t get any worse than it was tonight.”
