GAME STORY 2023 Calder Cup Finals Game 3: Coachella Valley - 4 at Hershey - 5 (OT)

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HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Bears knew they needed a big performance tonight to keep their championship hopes alive, and despite letting a 4-2 third period lead slip away they found a way to win Game 3 in overtime in front of the home fans at Giant Center.

The Bears' win cuts their series deficit to 2-1 with Games 4 (Thursday) and Game 5 (Saturday) staying on Hershey's home ice.

It was a night of offensive relief for the Bears, as Ethen Frank got his first of the postseason to open the scoring, Joe Snively got his first since the opening round against Charlotte and it was apparent that a weight was metaphorically lifted from the Bears' offensive players.

Garrett Pilon gave the Bears what appeared to be an insurance marker with 12:39 left to play, but Coachella Valley forced overtime on two third period goals from Cameron Hughes.

Riley Sutter played the role of hero in Game 3, potting a rebound goal to lift the Bears to a big win.

The Bears had some early jump in their step, feeding off the home crowd at Giant Center, but credit Coachella Valley for doing a great job of getting in shooting lanes and preventing Hershey from getting much through to Daccord. They managed just three shots on goal toward the Firebirds' netminder in the opening half of the first frame.

A post-whistle collision between John Hayden and Sam Anas resulted in the Bears' getting the game's first power play with 7:28 left before the first intermission.

Hershey thought they were getting an extended 5-on-3 power play after Daccord cleared a puck out of play, but after the officials gathered at center ice they ruled the puck didn't cleanly exit play and thus no penalty was called.

The Bears scored anyway off the ensuing face-off as the puck got back to Logan Day at the right point. Day got it to the right-wing half-wall for Anas, who sent a quick cross-ice pass to the top of the left-wing circle where Frank wristed one bar-down for his first goal of the postseason - also snapping the Bears' goalless drought at 161 minutes and 44 seconds.

A too-many-men penalty on Hershey proved costly late in the period as Coachella Valley was able to tie up the game at 1-1 on a power play tally of their own to send the two teams to the first intermission in a deadlock.

Jimmy Schuldt got the puck up to Rafferty at the center point, who blasted a hard one-timer through traffic for his second of the playoffs with 1:21 left in the opening period.

Hershey upped the ante in the middle frame, scoring 1:05 into the period to re-gain the lead before out-shooting the Firebirds 12-5 in the stanza and really starting to dictate the play.

Snively converted on a 2-on-1 with Garrett Pilon to begin the period, with Snively entering the offensive zone with speed down the left wing before a give-and-go pass with Pilon saw Snively deke to his backhand to finish off a pretty play to give the Bears the 2-1 lead.

It seemed like the Firebirds' frustration began to mount from that point on. After a whistle past the midway mark of the period, Snively drew the ire of Gustav Olofsson and Andrew Poturalski - with both Firebirds players taking a swing at Snively before Olofsson was whistled for slashing penalty.

Late in the period, a net-front scrum between Beck Malenstyn and Matt Tennyson resulted in matching minors, but the Bears continued to attack and forced Poturalski into taking an interference minor to prevent the Bears from getting an odd-man rush.

At a crucial moment late in the 2nd period of a one-goal game, it was the Bears persevering and taking a 3-1 lead with 2:42 left before the second intermission - after a bit of confusion and a quick goal review.

Sam Anas dug a puck out from the left-wing wall and carried it right to the top of the left-wing circle before snapping a hard shot that hit iron and popped out of the net.

The referee in position behind the net initially waved no goal, but play was stopped seconds later and upon review it was deemed a good goal.

Shane Wright stepped up his game in a big way in the third period. It seemed like he was making plays every time he was out on the ice.

In fact, Wright started a transition play 2-on-3 with Twarynski and zipped a pass through all three Bears' defenders and right onto the tape of Twarnyski for a quick shot past Shepard that the Bears' goalie had zero chance on.

Twarynski's 5th of of the postseason drew the Firebirds back within a goal, but it was Pilon stealing a puck in the Bears' offensive zone and beating Daccord on the next shift to restore the Bears' two-goal lead to 4-2 with 12:39 left in regulation.

It seemed like the Bears were on their way, but credit Coachella Valley for not packing it in down two goals late in the third.

A Henrik Borgstrom tripping penalty gave the Firebirds all they needed to get back into the game. Hughes buried his first of two goals in the period to draw Coachella Valley within one before tying the game on a net-front goal with Daccord off for the extra attacker in the final minute to tie the game up at 4-4 and force overtime.

Coachella Valley dominated overtime, spending large portions of the extra period in the offensive zone and on the attack.

But sometimes in the playoffs, the team dominating play loses a puck battle and it changes the outcome of the game.

That was certainly the case tonight, as Beck Malenstyn won a board battle as the first man in on the forecheck and got the puck to the side of the net for a quick shot from Mason Morelli.

Daccord made the save on Morelli, but the rebound bounced out onto the stick of Sutter for the putback and game-winner to give Hershey the much-needed victory to cut their series deficit to 2-1.

Coachella Valley Firebirds Lineup Notes

Joey Daccord got the start in Game 2 for Coachella Valley, with Chris Driedger serving as the Firebirds' backup.

No changes to the lineup for the Firebirds again in Game 3.

Firebirds Scratches: Christopher Gibson, Jake McLaughlin, Peetro Seppala, Nick Pastujov, Luke Henman, Ian McKinnon, Ty Nelson, Ryan Winterton, Ville Ottavainen, Jeremy McKenna and Jacob Melanson

Lines/Pairings:

Max McCormick - Alex True - Kole Lind Cameron Hughes - Andrew Poturalski - Jesper Froden Tye Kartye - Ville Petman - John Hayden Carsen Twarynski - Shane Wright - Austin Poganski

Gustav Olofsson - Matt Tennyso Ryker Evans - Brogan Rafferty Eddie Wittchow - Jimmy Schuldt

Joey Daccord - Chris Driedger

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Hunter Shepard got the start in net for Hershey in Game 2 of the Calder Cup Finals. Zach Fucale served as Shepard's backup.

No lineup changes from Game 2 to Game 3 for Hershey.

Bears Scratches:  Garin Bjorklund, Clay Stevenson, Jake Massie, Shane Gersich, Alexander Suzdalev, Julian Napravnik, Bogdan Trineyev, Mike Sgarbossa, Benton Maass, Michael Kim, Ludwig Persson, Bobby Nardella, Henrik Rybinski and Matt Strome

Lines/Pairings:

Mike Vecchione - Henrik Borgstrom - Ethen Frank Joe Snively - Connor McMichael - Garrett Pilon Aliaksei Protas - Hendrix Lapierre - Sam Anas Beck Malenstyn - Riley Sutter - Mason Morelli

Aaron Ness - Logan Day Gabriel Carlsson - Dylan McIlrath Lucas Johansen - Vincent Iorio

Hunter Shepard - Zach Fucale

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

12:32: CV - (PP) Hayden, minor (cross-checking) 13:24: HER - PPG Frank (1) - Anas, Day 16:48: HER - (PP) bench minor, too many men (served by Lapierre) 18:39: CV - PPG Rafferty (2) - Schuldt, Hughes

2nd Period

1:05: HER - Snively (2) - Pilon, McMichael 7:12: CV - (PP) Petman, minor (hooking) 11:46: CV - (PP) Olofsson, minor (slashing) 15:11: CV - Tennyson, minor (roughing) 15:11: HER - Malenstyn, minor (roughing) 16:29: CV - (PP) Poturalski, minor (interference) 17:18: HER - PPG Anas (4) - Frank, Snively

3rd Period

6:33: CV - Twarynski (5) - Wright 7:21: HER - Pilon (3) - Day 14:16: HER - (PP) Borgstrom, minor (tripping) 15:26: CV - PPG Hughes (2) - Schuldt, Rafferty 19:09: CV - Hughes (3) - Lind, Poturalski

Overtime

13:34: HER - Sutter (2) - Morelli, Malenstyn

BOXSCORE

Coachella Valley 1 - 0 - 3 - 0 = 4 Hershey Bears   1 - 2 - 1 - 1 = 5

Shots

Coachella Valley 10 - 5 - 16 - 6 = 37 Hershey Bears   5 - 12 - 9 - 4 = 30

Goalies

CV: Joey Daccord (22 saves - 26 shots) HER: Hunter Shepard (27 saves - 31 shots)

Power Play

CV: 2-for-3 HER: 2-for-4

Penalty Kill

CV: 2-for-4 HER: 1-for-3