HERSHEY, Pa. – Travis Boyd’s goal with 9:03 left in overtime emptied the Hershey Bears’ bench in celebration, as it stapled a 3-2 victory on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday night at GIANT Center and won the Atlantic Division Finals four games to three.
The Bears were looking for a fast start and they got it, when Erik Burgdoerfer sent a hard dump-in down the left wing boards. Penguins goaltender Casey DeSmith came out to play the puck, but tipped it right to Dustin Gazley, who worked a backhand shot into the net at 1:33 before DeSmith could recover.
But on the first Penguins power play of the game, the visitors tied the contest. Dustin Jeffrey one-timed a diagonal feed from Carter Rowney behind Justin Peters, but the puck didn’t cross the line. Matthias Plachta crashed the traffic in front and stuffed the puck in at 7:15.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton owned most of the possession time in the second frame, outshooting Hershey 11-5 in the process. But on one of the final Hershey shots of the period, Carter Camper put on several stickhandling moves before beating DeSmith with a high backhander at 18:43, giving Hershey a 2-1 lead.
The Penguins would not go away without a fight, however, and got the equalizer at 3:53 of the third period. Daniel Sprong sent a shot from the right side off of the left post. The puck sat behind Peters but Madison Bowey was unable to extract his stick from under Peters’ pad, and Kael Mouillierat hurried the puck over the goal line.
In overtime, the Bears began to take control of the contest and were rewarded for their effort when Liam O’Brien collected a pass from Bowey and went in on a puck-cycling shift in the right corner. Boyd would find a pass from behind the net, walk out of the left corner and send a wrist shot into the upper-right corner of the net for the game-winner at 10:57.
Peters stopped 32 of 34 shots to improve to 7-4 in the postseason. DeSmith ended with 21 saves on 24 shots and fell to 5-4. The Bears finished the night 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-3 on the penalty kill.
With the win, the Bears will face either the Albany Devils or the Toronto Marlies, the two teams battling in the North Division Finals. Game seven between the Devils and Marlies is set for Monday night at 7:30 PM in Toronto. Information on the Eastern Conference Finals will follow the conclusion of that game.
The first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals to be played at GIANT Center will be on Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21 at 7:00 PM. Tickets for both games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com
NOTES: Hershey won its ninth game seven in franchise history, surpassing the Rochester Americans for most in AHL history...Hershey is now 9-8 all-time in game sevens…The Bears are 4-3 all-time in series against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton…Hershey went the distance in two consecutive series for the first time since 1997…Carter Camper’s goal extended his point streak to six games (4-3-7)…The Bears won an overtime game for the first time in the postseason (1-2)…The Bears scratched LW Paul Carey, D Connor Hobbs, LW Dylan Margonari, LW Domenic Monardo, D Mike Moore, C Chandler Stephenson and D Colby Williams… The Penguins scratched D Niclas Andersen, LW Tyler Biggs, LW Sahir Gill, C Adam Krause, G Sean Maguire, RW Pat McGrath, D Will O’Neill, D Harrison Ruopp and LW Dominik Uher.