Hershey on the brink of another Calder Cup championship
One more.
That will be the expression on the mind of the Hershey Bears and their fans for 48 hours after they put themselves on the brink of a second straight Calder Cup with a 3-2 win over Coachella Valley in Game 5 of the Finals on Saturday night in Palm Desert, Calif.
With a 3-2 series lead, the Bears will make the flight back home to host Game 6 at Giant Center at 7 p.m. Monday with a chance to repeat as the AHL champions. If the Firebirds extend the series, Game 7 will finally settle the matter at 7 p.m. Wednesday, also at Giant Center.
Jimmy Huntington provided the deciding goal with 3:15 left in the game, his second tally of the night. Alex Limoges skated down the left side into the offensive zone, then passed to the middle of the zone were Huntington was charging toward the net and flipped the puck into the top right corner. Logan Day also had an assist.
Huntington was not a part of the Bears’ championship run last year, in which Hershey defeated Coachella Valley 4-3. He was on the Milwaukee Admirals, who were knocked out by the Firebirds in the Western Conference finals both last year and this year.
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The contest was reflective of the series as a whole, in which the teams are tied with 16 goals each. The game was tied 1-1 entering the third period.
The Firebirds took advantage of a turnover near the Bears’ net to take a 2-1 lead with 15:17 left in the third period. An errant pass was taken by Cameron Hughes on the right side of the offensive zone. He passed to his left to Ryan Winterton, who scored against Hershey netminder Hunter Sheperd.
The Bears tied the game 2-2 with a slapshot by Hardy Haman Aktell that beat Firebird goaltender Chris Driedger to his left with 11:34 left in the third stanza. Chase Priskie assisted, tallying his 11th helper of the postseason.
The Firebirds scored the opening goal on a second-shot opportunity, when Kole Lind pushed in a loose puck with 9:55 to go in the first period.
The Bears answered with the rare hockey buzzer-beater as Jimmy Huntington scored his first goal of the game with 1.3 seconds left in the first stanza to even the score 1-1, also on a second shot opportunity. Pierrick Dube and Limoges assisted on the equalizer.
Huntington now has five goals in this year’s playoffs.
The second period was scoreless, despite Coachella Valley holding a 15-4 advantage in shots and a power play, along with a two-minute stretch of 4-on-4 hockey. The Firebirds finished with a 26-20 shots advantage. Despite being down in the series, Coachella Valley has outshot Hershey in four of the five games.
Sheperd had 24 saves, while Driedger had 17 stops.
Neither team had a power play goal, with the Bears going 0-for-3 on the man advantage. The Firebirds were 0-for-2.
By winning Games 4 and 5 at Acrisure Arena, the Bears handed the Firebirds their first two home playoff losses after seven straight victories.
The Bears will be looking to win their first back-to-back Calder Cups since 2009 and 2010.