Bears Wrap Regular Season with 5-4 OT Thriller Over Amerks

April 19, 2026

The Hershey Bears (32-31-6-3) wrapped up the 2025-26 regular season with a back-and-forth thriller with the Rochester Americans (31-31-6-4) that ended with a 5-4 overtime victory on Sunday afternoon at GIANT Center.

Ivan Miroshnichenko scored the game-winner, Bogdan Trineyev recorded a goal and two assists, and Clay Stevenson made a career-high 40 saves in the victory.

As a result of today's outcome, the Bears finished in fifth place in the American Hockey League's Atlantic Division and will face the fourth-place Bridgeport Islanders in the best-of-three Atlantic Division First Round series to open the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs beginning on with Game 1 on Tuesday, April 21 at 7 p.m. at Total Mortgage Arena. Continue to check HersheyBears.com for the latest playoff and ticket information.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• The Bears were outshot 23-7 in the first period, with Hershey's 23 shots against representing a season high; Hershey faced 44 shots in total, marking a new season high.
• The Americans took a 1-0 lead at 1:36 of the second with a power-play goal from Trevor Kuntar.
• A potential Amerks goal at 6:02 goal was negated by a double-minor high-sticking penalty from Riley Fiddler-Schultz, giving Hershey a four-minute chance with the man advantage. The Bears capitalized on the opportunity when Bogdan Trineyev netted the tying goal at 9:35 from Brett Leason and Alex Suzdalev for his 17th of the season.
• Ilya Protas scored on a later power play at 13:37 to give Hershey a 2-1 edge with his 29th of the season from Trineyev and Andrew Cristall, but Rochester's Konsta Helenius answered 29 seconds later to knot the game at 2-2, and Jake Leschyshyn gave the Amerks a 3-2 lead at 3:16 of the third period.
• Wyatt Bongiovanni blasted his 15th of the season past Devon Levi at 5:49 to tie the game at 3-3; Andrew Cristall then gave the Bears a 4-3 lead with his 20th of the season from Protas and Trineyev.
• Carson Meyer scored at 12:45 to tie the score at 4-4 and force overtime for Rochester, helping the Americans secure the final playoff berth in the North Division.
• Ivan Miroshnichenko netted his 14th of the season to end the game at 2:26 of overtime from Henrik Rybinski and Leon Muggli, giving the winger his fifth game-winner of the season, and his third in overtime to tie a franchise mark (John Sorrell, 1942-43; Dunc Fisher, 1953-54; Willie Marshall, 1959-60; Éric Perrin, 2003-04; Alex Limoges, 2023-24).
• Protas completed the season with 66 points (29g, 37a) to lead the Bears and finish first in AHL rookie scoring with 66 points (29g, 37a), while Cristall's 60 points (20g, 40a) placed him second in team scoring and third in rookie scoring; the duo is the first pair of Bears rookies to finish 1-2 in team scoring and the first set of rookies in club history to reach the 60-point plateau.
• Clay Stevenson made a career-high 40 saves to earn his 18th win of the season and the 63rd victory of his tenure with the Bears to move into a tie with John Henderson for 14th in franchise history.

SHOTS: HER 31, ROC 44

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 40-for-44; ROC - Devon Levi, 26-for-31

POWER PLAY: HER - 2-for-4; ROC - 2-for-4

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on getting a win and the highest possible seeding against a motivated Rochester team that was fighting for its playoff life:
"That was huge. We, you know, that's a good hockey team. We knew they were going to come out. That team can skate, they're fast, so we just battled through it. Power play kicked in. Our goalie was outstanding. We just got total effort tonight. It wasn't always pretty, but we got the job done."

King on his remarks in last night's loss to Bridgeport directed at yesterday's top forward line of Miroshnichenko, Protas, and Trineyev:
"I thought about it after I left the room. I was pretty emotional and maybe probably should have chosen different words, but sometimes it just comes out that way. [...] But hats off to them, whether they watch the media or not. But I knew when I walked out of there, maybe I should have toned it down a bit. [...] Hell of a goal by 'Miro' at the end. We got goals from our top guys, and that's what we need. That's how you're going to win playoff games. Your top guys have got to be your best players."

King on preparing to face Bridgeport in a best-of-three series that will start on the road:
"Well, I think the biggest thing is just getting the rest we need. And the nice thing is it's only a four-hour bus ride instead of having to hop on a bus for eight hours. I like the fact that we get a home game for our fans, which I think is going to be great and exciting. But we're just going to watch some video, watch some clips. The nice thing is we played them just recently, so nothing has to change in our approach to the game. We'll just figure out lines and lineup and go from there."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears open the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs with Game 1 of the best-of-three Atlantic Division First Round versus the Bridgeport Islanders on Tuesday, April 21, at 7 p.m. at Total Mortgage Arena. Hershey will host Game 2 on Thursday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. Tickets for Game 2 will go on sale Monday, April 20 at 10 a.m. online via Ticketmaster.