2024 Calder Cup Playoffs: Game 1, Hartford - 1 at Hershey - 6 (5/16/24)

HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Bears appear to be an unstoppable force following a dominant 6-1 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack in Game 1 of the Atlantic Division Finals Thursday night.

Six different players tallied goals for the Bears in the win, while Hershey limited Hartford to just 14 total shots on goal.

Chase Priskie opened the scoring 7:40 into the first period, Ethen Frank extended the lead to 2-0 early in second frame and the Bears never really looked back - getting goals from Alex Limoges, Garrett Roe, Ivan Miroschnichenko and Jimmy Huntington to cruise to the win.

Hartford cut the deficit to 2-1 in the middle frame after a breakaway goal from Jake Leschyshyn, but that would be as close as the Wolf Pack would get.

Starting goalie Dylan Garand was called up to the New York Rangers just prior to tonight's game, leaving Olof Lindbom to make his AHL playoff debut. Lindbom was injured in the third period, forcing Tayln Boyko to come on in relief to finish out the final 8:59 of the game.

GAME STORY

Starting the series on the road, and without their starting goaltender, Hartford not only weathered the storm in the opening minutes of the contest but pushed the pace - holding Hershey without a shot on goal in the first six minutes of the game and spending a majority of the early-going with possession of the puck on the offensive side of the ice.

Instead it was the Bears weathering the storm early before a series of excellent plays from Priskie allowed Hershey to take a 1-0 lead.

After not one, but two solid keep-ins at the right point to keep the puck in the offensive zone, Priskie sent a short pass to the right-wing wall for Henrik Rybinski - executing a give-and-go which saw Priskie get the puck back atop the right-wing circle for a quick shot past Lindbom for his first goal of the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs.

From there, tempers flared as the physical play picked up with some post-whistle scrums - one of which resulted in the first penalty of the game when Nikolas Brouillard got an extra shot in on Pierrick Dube with a linesman in between the two players.

Hartford killed off the penalty and got back to work late in the first frame despite being out-shot 7-1 in the opening 15 minutes of the period. They simply weren't able to get much in way of pucks to the net, heading into the intermission trailing 1-0 and out-shot 9-3.

Things began to come off the rails for the Wolf Pack in the middle frame.

After failing to convert on a carryover power play to begin the period, coupled with a brief power play that was negated shortly thereafter by a Wolf Pack tripping penalty, Hartford headed to the penalty kill and Hershey began to take control of the game.

Frank blasted a knee-drop one-timer into the net from the left-wing circle to extend the Bears' lead to 2-0 less than four minutes into the second period.

Hartford was able to get one back less than two minutes later after Leschyshyn stole a puck just inside the Wolf Pack defensive zone blue line and finished on a breakaway chance for his fourth goal of the postseason.

Despite the 2-1 score, the Bears continued to control play - limiting Hartford to just seven total shots on goal through the opening 40 minutes.

It wasn't until the final six and a half minutes of the period that the Bears got rewarded in the goal column, but a pair of goals 1:07 apart in the waning moments of the middle frame really broke the game open.

First, Limoges re-directed a point shot before corralling the rebound at the net-front and tucking one home for his second goal of the playoffs. Then, on the next shift, Lucas Johansen fired a hard shot from the left point through traffic that was deflected into the net by Roe to stretch the Bears' lead to 4-1 heading to the third period.

Things continued to get worse for the Wolf Pack in the third period, as Lindbom was injured attempting to make a save on Miroschnichenko's breakaway goal with 8:59 left to play.  The Hartford netminder exited the game, with Boyko coming in to finish the game.

The Bears took advantage again, scoring on their first shot on Boyko just over two minutes after Miroschnichenko's goal had made it 5-1.

Huntington capped the scoring with a shorthanded tally to complete the 6-1 final score.

Hartford Wolf Pack Lineup Notes

The big news prior to puck drop was that the New York Rangers called up goaltender Dylan Garand, leaving Olof Lindbom as the Wolf Pack's new starter in net for Game 1. It marked Lindbom's AHL playoffs debut.

Scratches: Hugo Ollas, Kalle Vaisanen, Bryan Yoon, Ben Harpur, Case McCarthy, Connor Mackey, Blade Jenkins, Riley Nash, Karl Henriksson, Sahil Panwar and Harrison Rees

Lines/Pairings

Nic Petan - Alex Belzile - Tyler Pitlick Adam Sykora - Jake Leschyshyn - Anton Blidh Brett Berard - Ryder Korczak - Brennan Othmann Bobby Trivigno - Bryce McConnell-Barker - Jaroslav Chmelar

Brandon Scanlin - Victor Mancini Matthew Robertson - Nikolas Brouillard Blake Hillman - Mac Hollowell

Olof Lindbom (Backup: Talyn Boyko)

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Hunter Shepard got the start in net for the Bears in Game 1, with Clay Stevenson serving as the team's backup goaltender.

One lineup change from last series against Lehigh Valley for the Bears Thursday night, with defenseman Logan Day sustaining an injury last Saturday and Jake Massie entering the lineup in his place on Hershey's blue line.

Bears Scratches: Garin Bjorklund, Mitch Gibson, Jake Massie, Nicky Leivermann, Vincent Iorio (injured), Matthew Phillips, Tyson Empey, Riley Sutter (injured), Ryan Hofer, Logan Day (injured), Dmitry Osipov, Andrew Cristall, Kevin O'Neil, Jon McDonald and Garrett Roe

Lines/Pairings:

Joe Snively - Hendrix Lapierre - Ethen Frank Alex Limoges - Jimmy Huntington - Pierrick Dube Ivan Miroschnichenko - Garrett Roe - Mike Vecchione Matthew Strome - Henrik Rybinski - Bogdan Trineyev

Aaron Ness - Dylan McIlrath Lucas Johansen - Chase Priskie Hardy Haman Aktell - Jake Massie

Hunter Shepard (Backup: Clay Stevenson)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

7:40: HER - Priskie (1) - Rybinski, Strome 9:06: HFD - (PP) Brouillard, minor (roughing) 19:11: HER - (PP) McIlrath, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

1:10: HER - (PP) Massie, minor (delay of game) 2:07: HFD - (PP) Petan, minor (tripping) 3:58: HER - PPG Frank (4) - Lapierre, Snively 5:42: HFD - Leschyshyn (4) - unassisted 11:57: HFD - (PP) Mancini, minor (hooking) 13:28: HER - PPG Limoges (2) - Lapierre, Snively 14:35: HER - Roe (1) - Johansen, Vecchione 19:52: HER - (PP) Massie, minor (holding)

3rd Period

5:42: HER - (PP) Rybinski, minor (throwing equipment) 11:01: HER - Miroschnichenko (3) - unassisted 11:46: HFD - (PP) Trineyev, minor (boarding) 13:07: HER - SHG Huntington (1) - Rybinski, Johansen 16:26: HFD - (PP) Petan, minor (tripping) 18:08: HER - (PP) Rybinski, minor (hooking)

BOXSCORE

Hartford      0 - 1 - 0 = 1 Hershey Bears  1 - 3 - 2 = 6

Shots

Hartford      3 - 4 - 7 = 14 Hershey Bears  9 - 11 - 10 = 30

Goalies

HFD: Olof Lindbom (23 saves - 28 shots in 51:01) and Tayln Boyko (1 save - 2 shots) HER: Hunter Shepard (13 saves - 14 shots)

Power Play

HFD: 0-for-6 HER: 2-for-4

Penalty Kill

HFD: 2-for-4 HER: 6-for-6

Post-Game EXTRA!

Video interviews with Hershey head coach Todd Nelson and Hartford interim head coach Steve Smith!