Former Pirates Brooks Laich and Tomas Fleischmann each scored twice as Hershey opened the Eastern Conference Final with a humbling 5-0 win over Portland in Game 1 at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Wednesday night.
Frederic Cassivi made 33 saves for his third shutout in the last four games as Hershey improved to 9-0 in the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs. The Bears are just the third team in AHL history to open a postseason with nine consecutive wins.
The Pirates entered the game ranked first in the AHL at 4.17 goals scored per game in the postseason, but were shut out for the first time since Feb. 4.
Cassivi and the Bears have allowed just one goal over their last 246:52 of play.
Graham Mink, who played four seasons in Portland from 2001-05, recorded a pair of assists, and Kris Beech added a goal and an assist. Boyd Kane extended his scoring streak to seven games with an assist.
Game 2 is Thursday night.
