Vitek Vanecek made 39 saves for his first career playoff shutout and the Hershey Bears evened up their Atlantic Division semifinal series with a 2-0 win in Bridgeport on Saturday night.
Hershey hosts Game 3 on Tuesday.
Mike Sgarbossa and Riley Barber, the Bears’ two 30-goal scorers in the regular season, both picked up a goal and an assist to lead the offense in Game 2.
Vanecek, who drew the assignment in net after Game 1 starter Ilya Samsonov was recalled by Washington earlier in the day, made 12 stops in the first period, nine in the second and 18 more in the third. Vanecek is now 14-2-4 in his last 20 decisions.
Jeremy Smith, who also made his first start of the series, recorded 32 saves for the Sound Tigers.
Atlantic Division Semifinals – Series “B” (best-of-5)
A2-Bridgeport Sound Tigers vs. A3-Hershey Bears
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 19 – BRIDGEPORT 3, Hershey 2 (2OT) | Recap
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 20 – Hershey 2, BRIDGEPORT 0
Game 3 – Tue., Apr. 23 – Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00
Game 4 – Thu., Apr. 25 – Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., Apr. 27 – Hershey at Bridgeport, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
