Regardless of the opponent, the Hershey Bears are enjoying their time at the DCU Center this postseason.
Cameron Schilling‘s shorthanded goal midway through the third period lifted the Bears to a 2-1 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series, played Sunday afternoon in Worcester, Mass., due to scheduling conflicts at the XL Center in Hartford.
Game 4 is tomorrow night back at the DCU Center, where the Bears — who defeated the Worcester Sharks in the first round — are now 3-0 during the 2015 Calder Cup Playoffs.
After a scoreless first period, Hershey broke through 1:07 into the second. Nate Schmidt led a three-on-two rush into the offensive zone, passed the puck to Jakub Vrana and positioned himself alone in front, where he collected the rebound of Vrana’s shot and beat Yann Danis for his second goal of the series and third of the postseason.
Trying to kill off a penalty and avoid a two-goal deficit at the end of the second period, Hartford instead knotted things at 1-1 with its first shorthanded marker of the postseason. Joey Crabb used Bears defenseman Connor Carrick as a screen and snapped a shot past Philipp Grubauer with 40.8 seconds remaining before intermission.
Hershey turned the tables midway through the third period with a shorthanded goal of its own, as Schilling beat a screened Danis with a wrister at 10:23 to put the Bears in front, 2-1.
Grubauer and Danis both bounced back from struggling in Game 2 to put forth strong efforts in Game 3. Grubauer (2-1) made 31 saves to help the Bears to their first lead of the series, while Danis (4-4) stopped 20 of 22 in the loss.
Eastern Conference Semifinals – Series “J” (best-of-7)
2-Hershey Bears vs. 3-Hartford Wolf Pack
Game 1 – Wed., May 6 – Hartford 2, HERSHEY 1 (OT)
Game 2 – Fri., May 8 – HERSHEY 6, Hartford 4
Game 3 – Sun., May 10 – Hershey 2, HARTFORD 1 (at Worcester, Mass.)
Game 4 – Mon., May 11 – Hershey vs. Hartford, 7:00 (at Worcester, Mass.)
Game 5 – Wed., May 13 – Hartford at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 6 – Fri., May 15 – Hershey at Hartford, 7:00
*Game 7 – Sun., May 17 – Hartford at Hershey, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
