Hershey Bears 2021-22 Season Wrap Up

HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Bears, plagued up and down their lineup with costly injuries, battled to the bitter end this spring - taking their first round, best-of-three series with rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton the distance and then some before ultimately coming up short in overtime of a deciding Game Three on Monday night.

The offense dried up for the Bears down the stretch and into the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs, where they tallied 13 goals in their final 10 games before almost miraculously extending their season into the second round after turning a 3-1 deficit in Game Three into a 3-3 game thanks to a pair of extra attacker goals from Garrett Pilon and Brett Leason in the final 1:35 of the third period.

Unfortunately, the Penguins re-gained their composure during the intermission and were able to battle through to win the game - and the series - in the first overtime, effectively eliminating Hershey from the postseason.

Series Recap

Game 1

In the opening game of the best-of-three series, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead courtesy of a pair of goals in a span of 31 seconds and tacked on an empty net, power play goal late to record a 3-0 victory over the Bears.

Hershey never really settled in and managed just three shots in the first and nine in the second. The Bears finished with 23 overall, and went 0-for-3 on the power play.

Defensively, the Bears made some costly miscues once again, one of which led to Will Reilly's goal. Phoenix Copley recorded 28 saves in the loss.

"It was a tough pill for me to swallow knowing that we played 76 previous games as a team, obviously different lineup almost every night, and (the) 77th game, which happened to be game one of the playoffs, we laid a major league egg," Allen said of Friday's loss on Sunday night.

Game 2

At Giant Center on Sunday, it looked like a completely different Hershey team as the Bears took an early lead on Beck Malenstyn's power play goal.

Hershey's power play unit, which has been without key contributors throughout the season due to injuries, call-ups, and illnesses, finally got seemed to get some traction with players setting up in front of Tommy Nappier looking for rebounds and redirects.

The Bears added to the lead in the second when Dylan McIlrath unleashed a bomb from the blueline that made its way through traffic and into the net.

That goal would be crucial as the Penguins responded just 30 seconds later, but were unable to tie the game as the Bears won on home ice for the final time in the 2021-2022 season, 2-1.

"There wasn't a guy in this organization that was even a little bit satisfied with how we played in game one. We addressed the disappointment, we had to get by it, we had to make a couple of adjustments. You know, we lost a couple of guys to injury in that first game. They lost one guy tonight due to one of the injuries in the game. So, you know, we knew what we had to do, and all the credit goes to the 20 guys who dressed tonight for us; they got it done," Allen said after Sunday's win.

Game 3

Mike Sgarbossa gave the Bears the early lead at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, but after the dust settled in overtime, it was the Penguins who advanced with a 4-3 victory.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton traveled to Springfield for the first two games of the Atlantic Division Semifinals with that series set to begin Wednesday, not Tuesday as originally planned if the Penguins advanced.

After falling into a 3-1 hole, Garret Pilon and Brett Leason both scored late with the extra attacker to tie the game with just 53 seconds left, but in OT, it was Alex Nylander who sent the home team to the next round.

Copley made 42 saves in the loss, with a total of 92 in the series.

Special Teams Weekly Recap

Hershey PP was 1-for-7 (Malenstyn - Sunday)

Hershey PK was 5-for-6

Season Summary Three Takeaways

1. Power Play

Boiling things down into the greatest needs going forward, the Bears need to make special teams special.

Granted they did score shorthanded an impressive ten times, finishing 12th in penalty killing, allowing 50 goals in 272 chances through 76 games.

However, the power play was 26th overall with just 46 goals in 264 attempts (17.4%), and they gave up nine goals as well.

Part of the problem is lack of penetration on the powerplay. Add in lack of bodies in front of goaltenders that force one of the penalty killers to actually clear the net front or make things difficult for the goaltender, as well as a lack of puck movement making the defense do more than simply skate in a one-foot circle, and it's going to be tough sledding for the special teams unit.

Again, nobody in Hershey would have imagined going this far with the roster they had and certainly guys like Matt Moulson would have made a huge difference, but these things happen in hockey, and coaches have to adapt.

2. Skaters

Like every team, the Bears used an inordinate number of players this season. Hopefully next season there will be more roster stability, but the Capitals and Bears need to make sure Hershey has an adequate number of players so that the front office staff doesn't have to scramble.

Bryan Helmer and company did an admirable job of finding quality players to fill gaps, but hopefully this does not happen again next season.

Additionally, the team needs to sign some players in the offseason. Guys who will/may return next year include Mike Sgarbossa (Capitals 2-way deal), Kale Kessy (Bears), Dylan McIlrath (Capitals 2-way deal), Joe Snively (Capitals 2-way deal), Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (Capitals 2-way deal), and Hunter Shepard (Capitals 2-way deal). Garret Pilon and Bobby Nardella remain under contract with the Capitals as well, and the second year of their respective two-year deals pay them handsomely regardless of whether they play in Washington or Hershey. Kody Clark, Aliaksei Protas, and Riley Sutter remain under Capitals contracts, and Mike Vecchione is back under an extension.

Pending losses of Pheonix Copley (UFA), Cody Franson (Bears), Lucas Johansen (RFA), Shane Gersich (UFA-Group 6), Beck Malenstyn (RFA), Eddie Wittchow (Bears), Tobias Geisser (RFA), and Brian Pinho (UFA). Hershey will undoubtedly try to lure Franson and Wittchow back. Franson has stated he loves the area, especially for his family. Matt Moulson, who reached the end of his contract has a decision to make regarding his situation as well and whether to attempt a return off of back surgery.

3. Scoring

Not to be redundant, but the roster at the end of the season was not what anyone would have expected at the beginning; however, the need for scoring MUST be addressed.

The next-man-up mentality only takes the team so far, and Allen continuously pointed out that one doesn't simply replace a 30-goal scorer with a guy who had five the year before and expect the same outcome. In a year where lineups needed to be created on Post-It notes because they changed so often, finding a way to score just did not happen.

If the Capitals do not address the need for scoring, look for the Bears to try and sign some guys to fill those holes.

Unfortunately, they need to be very careful with the Veteran rule in place at the AHL level. Guys who joined the team at the end of the year like Ethen Frank and Julian Napravnik may be asked to contribute sooner rather than later.

Quotable

"Usually in playoffs to win a cup, you have to win 16 games, right? Four best of sevens. The numbers are slightly different this year with how it's done, but I've never seen anybody win all 16 In one day in one game. So you have to win one. That's what it comes down to," said Allen.

The Road Ahead

So long to teams playing uneven numbers of games!

Next year, the points for wins and OTL/SOL matter once again and it can't come soon enough for those of us who are mathematically challenged!

And while that wouldn’t have made any difference for the Bears this season, the simple fact remains that standings would have looked somewhat different.

Providence, the 3rd place team percentage-wise, played four fewer games and could have perhaps secured a first-round bye instead of being bounced from the playoffs by Bridgeport (another team with a 72-game season). Regardless, it will be a level playing field next season at least in terms of number of games.