The Hershey Bears (31-30-6-3) concluded their season-high eight-game road trip with a 5-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (44-17-7-2) on Wednesday night at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
Hershey completed its road trip with a record of 4-4-0-0. As a result of Hershey's win and Lehigh Valley's 7-1 loss at Springfield, the Bears secured a berth in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs, and their league-leading 73rd postseason appearance. The Bears finished their season series against the Penguins with a 3-5-1-1 record, notably winning their final two clashes, both of which came on the road.
NOTABLES:
SHOTS: HER 29, WBS 33
GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 32-for-33; WBS - Sergei Murashov, 24-for-27
POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-5; WBS - 0-for-2
THEY SAID IT:
Bears head coach Derek King on his initial reaction to the team getting the win against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton:
"First period, I was a little like, 'how is this going to play out?' But as the game went on, we got our legs - I guess you could call it bus legs - out, and I thought we played more desperate, plus we played with some good structure."
King on the reinforcements provided by the return of Miroshnichenko, Protas, and Stevenson:
"It's the three of them, right? You put Clay back in the net, he's feeling good about his game, he played an outstanding game for [Washington] and you saw tonight, he was outstanding. Pro was doing his thing, and Miro worked hard, had a nice goal. It just pushes everybody back into their spot in the lineup where they should be and it evens things out for us and gives us a chance."
King on the mentality of throwing Stevenson back into a starting situation less than 24 hours after starting an NHL contest:
"It's playoff hockey, right? In the playoffs you go with your goalie, and if he's got to play three in a row he's going to play three in a row. I had no doubt in my mind that I was not going to let anybody tell me that he's not playing tonight."
King on making the playoffs and on a number of young players getting their first taste of postseason hockey in the pro ranks:
"Good for the guys. It wasn't pretty the way we did it, I would've liked to get a bye and cruise into the playoffs, but I liked that we've been playing some playoff hockey going into the playoffs, so we're ready. [...] It's huge. This is where they learn. This is how they learn to play the game the right way, as we've talked before about playing desperate, playing hard hockey, and playing hard minutes, and playing for the team. Not just padding stats and stuff like that - stats are out the window now - nobody cares about your stats. Now they can focus on playing together the last two games here, play as a team, get a couple of wins, and see where it puts us in position to see who we play."
Matt Strome on the group's emotions after clinching a playoff spot:
"I think we earned it this year, we had some ups, we had some downs, but we've been fighting all year. There's been some ugly games, some great games, and everything in between. To clinch with not knowing what was going to happen in the Lehigh Valley game but we had to do our business, and we did it, so it was a big cheer in the room after we found out we made the playoffs."
Jon McDonald on the relief of securing a playoff berth:
"I think any time you get that security of making the playoffs you get a little weight off the back. It wasn't the easiest path in the second half of the year after the All-Star break, but it feels good for our group to get in, and I know Kinger probably doubled down on it, but I like our chances at getting in. Once you're in, it's anybody's game, and I think we bring a lot to the table, so it's exciting."
Clay Stevenson on how he's feeling after a busy period of work and how his defense helped him secure tonight's win:
"I'm a little tired. [...] It's a grind of a stretch, but my body's prepared for it, I'm mentally prepared for those things, and you just take it one puck at a time in those circumstances. They did a great job blocking some shots. I thought we were breaking the puck out clean today, so that's always pretty big, and in the moments we were getting hemmed, we kept our cool, kept our coverage, didn't give them too much, and it led to success tonight."
(Answers edited for clarity)
The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they return home to host the Bridgeport Islanders on Saturday, April 18 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for Racing Night and Toyota License Plate Night, featuring a Bears license plate giveaway to the first 6,000 fans in attendance, courtesy of Toyota. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.
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