Justin Peters made 19 saves for his first career Calder Cup Playoff shutout as Hershey blanked Portland, 2-0, in Game 4 of their Atlantic Division semifinal series on Saturday night.
The teams will play a winner-take-all Game 5 on Sunday evening at Giant Center (5:00 ET, AHL Live).
Making his third straight start after backing up Dan Ellis in Game 1, Peters (2-1) lowered his goals-against average to 0.81 and raised his save percentage to .968 in the series, with three goals against on 95 total shots.
Hershey took a 1-0 lead in Game 4 with 7:09 remaining in the first period as Jakub Vrana backhanded a centering pass to Travis Boyd, who snapped a shot home for his first goal of the playoffs.
The Bears then capitalized on a power play with 3:37 left when Chris Bourque ripped a shot from the center point that redirected off a Pirate defender’s stick and past Mike McKenna to make it 2-0.
McKenna (2-2, 2.15, .919) finished with 26 saves in the loss.
Hershey improved to 7-1 all-time at Giant Center when facing elimination.
Atlantic Division Semifinals – Series “A” (best-of-5)
A1-Hershey Bears vs. A4-Portland Pirates
Game 1 – Fri., Apr. 22 – PORTLAND 6, Hershey 4
Game 2 – Sat., Apr. 23 – Hershey 3, PORTLAND 1
Game 3 – Thu., Apr. 28 – Portland 2, HERSHEY 1 (3OT)
Game 4 – Sat., Apr. 30 – HERSHEY 2, Portland 0
Game 5 – Sun., May 1 – Portland at Hershey, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
.@TheHersheyBears strike first! Travis Boyd finds the back of the net and the Bears go up 1-0 #HERvsPOR pic.twitter.com/Et6J9mVR0C
— AHL (@TheAHL) April 30, 2016
