Logan Day scored his first of the playoffs, but the Hershey Bears (9-3) fell to the Cleveland Monsters (7-4) in a 5-1 defeat in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The loss marked the first time throughout the 2023-24 regular season and playoffs that Hershey had dropped consecutive games in regulation.
Hershey struck first at 12:11 of the first period when Hardy Haman Aktell fed the puck back to Day, who beat Jet Greaves with a wrist shot that struck off the post and into the net.
Alex Whelan leveled the score at 1-1 at 2:48 of the second period.
Cleveland then jumped ahead at 9:35 with a power-play goal that came off a wild carom off the end-wall glass and dropped over the crossbar to an open Josh Dunne, who batted in the go-ahead score to make it 2-1.
Brendan Gaunce struck at 11:49 and 16:29 to put the Monsters up 4-1 before the intermission.
Hershey began the third by replacing Hunter Shepard with Clay Stevenson, who made his Calder Cup Playoffs debut.
Dunne completed the scoring to make it 5-1 at 15:58 with a spin-around backhand shot that he slipped through Stevenson.
Shots finished 34-25 in favor of the Bears. Shepard went 16-for-20 in the loss, while Stevenson went 4-for-5 in relief; Greaves went 33-for-34 in the win for Cleveland. The Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play; the Monsters went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Bears continue the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs when they face the Monsters in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Monday, June 10, at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. Game 6 will also air on television locally on WPMT FOX 43.2 Antenna TV and in the Washington, D.C. area on Monumental Sports Network; fans can also watch online via AHLTV. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.
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