Bears Take Series-Clinching Game 5 Over Phantoms, 4-2

May 11, 2025

Riley Sutter scored twice and the Hershey Bears (3-2) closed out their Atlantic Division Semifinals series with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-3) with a 4-2 Game 5 victory on Sunday evening at GIANT Center.

With the series-clinching win, the Bears have advanced to the Atlantic Division Finals for the third consecutive postseason, where they will face the Charlotte Checkers in a best-of-five series. The series victory also gave Hershey its ninth consecutive playoff series win dating back to the start of the 2023 Calder Cup Playoffs (2023, 4; 2024, 4; 2025, 1) breaking the previous record of eight, also held by Hershey (2009, 4; 2010, 4).

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Spencer Smallman gave Hershey the 1-0 lead just 5:19 into the first period when he netted his second of the playoffs. Alex Limoges and Hendrix Lapierre earned assists on the play; Limoges extended his point streak from the start of the playoffs to five games (1g, 5a).
• Riley Sutter extended Hershey's lead to 2-0 with his first of the playoffs at 16:13 after Luke Philp forced a turnover in the neutral zone and found Matt Strome, who slid a pass over to Sutter through the slot, beating Cal Petersen.
• Sutter added his second of the contest at 13:09 of the middle frame, with Garrett Roe and Jake Massie contributing assists.
• Anthony Richard spoiled the shutout bid for Hershey with a Lehigh Valley power-play goal at 2:08 of the third period. Hunter McDonald then scored at 14:03 to trim the Hershey lead to 3-2.
• Bogdan Trineyev sealed the contest with an empty-net goal at 18:20.
• Hunter Shepard returned to the net for Hershey after yielding the crease to Clay Stevenson in Game 4, and made 19 saves to earn his 30th career playoff win for Hershey, moving into a tie with Michal Neuvirth for second-most in club history.
• With the victory, Hershey improved to 9-9 all-time in Game 5s of a five-game series. The Bears also improved to 71-58 when facing elimination and 82-72 when in position to win a playoff series. Hershey's playoff win-loss record against the Phantoms franchise improved to 20-14, and 6-1 with respect to postseason series.
• Bears head coach Todd Nelson earned his 31st career playoff victory for Hershey to pass John Paddock for second in franchise history, behind only Frank Mathers (60).

SHOTS: HER 22, LV 21

GOALTENDING: HER - Hunter Shepard, 19-for-21; LV - Cal Petersen, 18-for-21

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-5; LV - 1-for-3

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Todd Nelson on the lineup changes in the final two games of the series and the intensity of the matchup:
"The changes paid off. But I thought the guys last couple games came ready to play. And I want to give credit where credit's due: Lehigh's a hell of a team. It was a hell of a series. Their guys never quit. They're well-coached, they did a great job, and we consider ourselves a pretty good hockey team, but that was a battle - that was a war."

Nelson on being able to close out a tough opponent:
"I think the last couple of games we jumped off to a pretty good start and we played with a lot of emotion, but I like the fact that our guys stayed disciplined. We could have really closed the game out with the 5-on-3 opportunity [in the third]. We did not. I was thinking, is this going to come back to hurt us? But they made it a one-goal game and I'm just happy when Bogdan put that empty-net goal in. But they were coming. They're just a good hockey team. You know, we're definitely battle-tested after that series."

Nelson on getting the 100% buy-in from his players:
"I think the guys just realized it and it finally clicked in. Like the last couple games from what I saw from our team we were playing predictable to each other - we're not on our own page out there, we're playing the team game. I just told the guys to trust the system and if it's not working, we'll tweak it and do whatever. But I thought the guys stuck with it and it was a total team effort, right from our goaltender on out."

NEXT GAME:

The Bears continue the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs when Hershey opens the best-of-five Atlantic Division Finals against the Charlotte Checkers on Friday, May 16, at 7 p.m. at Bojangles Coliseum. The series resumes in Hershey with Game 3 on Wednesday, May 21 at GIANT Center. Tickets for Bears home games for the Atlantic Division Finals will go on sale on Monday, May 12 at 10 a.m. online via Ticketmaster.