Bears Blank Islanders 2-0 to Open Series

April 21, 2026

David Gucciardi broke a 0-0 midway through the third period and Clay Stevenson made 18 saves to earn his first shutout in the Calder Cup Playoffs as the Hershey Bears (1-0) earned a 2-0 win to open their best-of-three Atlantic Division First Round series over the Bridgeport Islanders (0-1) on Tuesday night at Total Mortgage Arena.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Despite an early double-minor penalty to Bogdan Trineyev for high sticking in the first period, the Bears limited Bridgeport's man advantage unit to just one shot on goal during the extended power play. Later in the frame, Bears netminder Clay Stevenson stopped six successive shots by Bridgeport's attackers.
• David Gucciardi took a pass from Henrik Rybinski and buried Hershey's first goal of the playoffs at 12:31 of the third period.
• Ilya Protas sealed the game with an empty-net goal at 19:58 from Grant Cruikshank and Trineyev.
• Stevenson's shutout was the first of his playoff career and marked the first time the Bears opened the postseason with a shutout since Game 1 of the 2025 Atlantic Division Semifinals (Hunter Shepard, 26 saves).
• The victory also marked Bears head coach Derek King's first postseason win as a head coach.
• Hershey improved to 79-63 in series-opening games.

SHOTS: HER 23, BRI 18

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 18-for-18; BRI - Marcus Högberg, 21-for-22

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-1; BRI - 0-for-3

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on opening the playoffs with a tight win:
"I just think both teams were waiting for somebody to make a mistake. Both teams played hard, they were good on the forecheck, they put some pressure on us at times, and we then tilted the ice, and it was waiting for one mistake. I didn't see what happened there - I was too busy yelling at Gucciardi for not putting it deep - and then he ends up scoring, so yeah. It was a game of checkers or chess, whatever you want to call it, but we found a way to get it done."

King on looking for good decision-making and how it contributed to tonight's victory:
"Yeah, and when we did that we hemmed them in a few times, and we exited a lot better. There's times though they put pressure on us and we just whacked pucks away for no reason. Something we're going to have to show in the next video session, just things we can clean up a little bit, but I liked our compete and Clay was outstanding, and we got the empty-net [goal], so it was a nice win to get."

King on not taking the team's goaltending for granted and how it elevates the defense:
"When [Stevenson]'s on, or [Mitch Gibson]'s on, our guys play with some confidence. Hats off to our penalty kill right off the bat, trying to kill a four-minute penalty on a team that has a lot of offense, so we did a great job on that."

David Gucciardi on his game-winning goal:
"It rolled off my stick a little bit. 'Ryby' was in a great spot for support and he took it hard to the net and gave me a tap-in. [...] I think I had some space so I took some ice, which is what our coaches preach, and just took the ice when it was there."

Gucciardi on the play of Clay Stevenson:
"He was unbelievable. It wasn't perfect on our end; he was there numerous times. Great game by him, and we're lucky to have him back there."

Clay Stevenson on what led to the team getting the win:
"Honestly we played a really, really tight-checking game. We were exiting clean, our penalty kill was excellent. It's helping out, guys were tracking back in those moments of breakdowns. I was able to make some good saves [...] overall, a great game, and a great feeling for our team."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs when they host the Bridgeport Islanders for Game 2 of the Atlantic Division First Round on Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game via Ticketmaster.