2024 Calder Cup Playoffs: Game 7, Cleveland - 2 at Hershey - 3 (OT) 6/12/24

HERSHEY, Pa. - In what turned out to be an instant-classic Eastern Conference Finals series, the Hershey Bears and Cleveland Monsters battled all the way into overtime of Game 7 Wednesday night.

After another Cleveland third period game-tying goal brought on bonus hockey, it was Hershey prevailing 7:38 into overtime on a goal from Garrett Roe - fighting through traffic to net the game-winning and series-clinching goal to send the Bears back to the Calder Cup Finals where they will face the Coachella Valley Firebirds in a rematch of last year's final.

In a back-and-forth affair, Cleveland opened the scoring late in the first period on a power play tally from Trey Fix-Wolansky only to see Hershey respond to tie the game up on the following shift on a goal from Logan Day.

Pierrick Dube, who returned to the lineup for Game 7 after having oral surgery to repair several lost teeth from taking a puck in Game 3 in Cleveland, gave the Bears a 2-1 lead in the second period only for James Malatesta to tie things up with 5:52 left to force overtime for the fourth time in the series.

Hunter Shepard stopped 42 of 44 shots in the win for Hershey, while Jet Greaves finished with 27 saves for Cleveland.

It's a quick turnaround for the Bears, who will host Coachella Valley in Game 1 on Friday night.

GAME STORY

The Hershey Bears came out firing to start Game 7, opening up an early 5-1 edge in shots on goal while generally controlling the opening minutes of the contest.

Cleveland was able to weather the storm, thanks in large part to some big stops from Greaves to keep the game scoreless into the second half of the period.

The Monsters started to generate the better of the chances in the second half of the period, leading up to Bears forward Riley Sutter's tripping penalty with 2:01 left before the first intermission - giving Cleveland the game's first power play.

They made it count, taking a 1-0 lead on a power play tally from Fix-Wolansky after good work up top by promising Blue Jackets prospects David Jiricek and Denton Mateychuk to not only keep the puck alive in the offensive zone but also to turn it into instant offense.

Shepard stopped the initial shot from Fix-Wolansky, but the Monsters' forward followed up his own rebound for his third goal of the postseason.

The Bears got it right back, getting a tally from Day from inside the right-wing circle after a pass from down low from Alex Limoges was right in Day's wheelhouse for a quick slap shot past Greaves to even the game at 1-1 with 19 seconds left on the first period clock.

The response goal from Hershey gave them momentum to begin the middle frame, as they looked much more like the Hershey team from the first three games of the series than the last three.

They drew a penalty on Monsters' captain Brendan Gaunce 3:18 into the period, and went right to work on their first power play of the night - firing shots at will on the man advantage until Dube fired one past Greaves from atop the left-wing circle to give Hershey a 2-1 lead.

Greaves stopped a big shot from Hendrix Lapierre in the left-wing circle, and Joe Snively's attempt from the right-wing face-off dot was blocked, but Dube was third to attempt a shot and the third time was the charm - with Dube's shot making its way through traffic and into the back of the net for his third of the playoffs.

Hershey began to take control of the game in the middle frame, out-shooting Cleveland by a 13-8 margin in the period and winning the puck possession battle as well.

Both goalies came up with big stops in short succession to keep the game at a 2-1 score, with Shepard just getting a piece of an Owen Sillinger shot to keep it out of the Bears' net while at the other end Greaves came up big on a Matt Strome breakaway attempt to keep his team within one.

Cleveland was whistled for a rather soft tripping penalty with 2:43 left before the second intermission, but the Monsters' penalty killers were able to get the job done to keep themselves in a one-goal hockey game heading to the third period.

The third period brought the same physicality and intensity as the opening 40 minutes of play.

Lapierre took an early third period tripping penalty, but Shepard and the Bears' penalty killers got the job done to preserve the Bears' 2-1 lead.

For the fourth game in this series, in this building, the never-say-die Monsters found a way to tie up the game with 5:52 left in regulation.

Shepard made a save on Fix-Wolansky, but the rebound darted out to Malatesta who gathered the loose puck, turned and fired a shot into the back of the net for his first goal of the playoffs to draw Cleveland even with Hershey at 2-2.

The two teams headed off the ice at the end of the third period headed to overtime for the fourth time in this series, with the next goal deciding who advances to the Calder Cup Finals to face Coachella Valley.

The Monsters came out firing in overtime. After out-shooting Hershey 17-6 in the third period, Cleveland had the majority of the chances in the fourth period.

That was until Jake Gaudet inadvertently cleared a puck out of play, giving Hershey an overtime power play.

The Bears didn't score on the man advantage, but shortly after - following a blocked down shot from Day - Roe got the rebound in the slot and sneaked a shot through traffic into the back of the net to send the Giant Center crowd into a frenzy.

Cleveland Monsters Lineup Notes

Jet Greaves got the start once again for Cleveland in Game 7, with Malcolm Subban serving as the Monsters' backup goaltender.

No lineup changes from Game 6 to Game 7 for Cleveland Wednesday night.

Scratches: Pavel Cajan, Corson Ceulemans, Nick Blankenburg, Zachary Okabe, Samue Knazko, Cole Clayton, Hunter McKown, Cameron Butler, Marcus Bjork, Luca Pinelli, Luca Del Bel Belluz and Ole Julian Bjorgvik-Holm

Lines/Pairings:

Mikael Pyyhtia - Brendan Gaunce - Stefan Matteau James Malatesta - Owen Sillinger - Trey Fix Wolansky Tyler Angle - Jake Gaudet - Roman Ahcan Justin Pearson - Josh Dunne - Alex Whelan

Stanislav Svozil - David Jiricek Denton Mateychuk - Jake Christiansen Jakub Zboril - Billy Sweezey

Jet Greaves (Backup: Malcolm Subban)

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Hunter Shepard got the start in net for Hershey Wednesday night, while Clay Stevenson remained the Bears' backup goaltender.

Bears Scratches: Garin Bjorklund, Mitch Gibson, Nicky Leivermann, Lucas Johansen (injured), Matthew Phillips, Tyson Empey, Ryan Hofer, Aaron Ness (injured), Ethen Frank (injured), Dmitry Osipov, Kevin O'Neil and Jon McDonald (injured)

Lines/Pairings

Joe Snively - Hendrix Lapierre - Ivan Miroschnichenko Alex Limoges - Jimmy Huntington - Henrik Rybinski Mike Vecchione - Garrett Roe - Pierrick Dube Matt Strome - Riley Sutter - Bogdan Trineyev

Hardy Haman Aktell - Dylan McIlrath Jake Massie - Chase Priskie Logan Day - Vincent Iorio

Hunter Shepard (Backup: Clay Stevenson)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

17:59: HER - (PP) Sutter, minor (tripping) 19:02: CLE - PPG Fix-Wolansky (3) - Mateychuk, Jiricek 19:41: HER - Day (2) - Limoges, Rybinski

2nd Period

3:18: CLE - (PP) Gaunce, minor (hooking) 4:14: HER - PPG Dube (3) - Snively, Lapierre 17:17: CLE - (PP) Ahcan, minor (tripping)

3rd Period

3:10: HER - (PP) Lapierre, minor (tripping) 14:08: CLE - Malatesta (1) - Fix-Wolansky

BOXSCORE

Cleveland  1 - 0 - 1 - 1 = 3 Hershey    1 - 1 - 0 - 0 = 2

Shots

Cleveland  13 - 8 - 17 - 6 = 44 Hershey    9 - 13 - 6 - 2 = 30

Goalies

CLE: Jet Greaves (27 saves - 30 shots) HER: Hunter Shepard (42 saves - 44 shots)

Power Play

CLE: 1-for-2 HER: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

CLE: 2-for-3 HER: 1-for-2

Post-Game EXTRA!

Video interviews with Cleveland Monsters head coach Trent Vogelhuber and Hershey Bears forward Pierrick Dube and Garrett Roe.