Miroshnichenko Breaks Through, But Hershey On Brink Of Elimination After OT Loss To Penguins In Game 3

· Yahoo Sports

The Washington Capitals' AHL affiliate Hershey Bears put up a strong fight on Tuesday, but are now facing elimination after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Game 3 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals of the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Hershey found itself trailing early in the first period after back-to-back goals for Phil Kemp and Mikhail Ilyin, but got a spark when Ivan Miroshnichenko sniped home his first of the playoffs to cut things to 2-1.

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Later in the frame, the first line got to work with Bogdan Trineyev finishing off a picture-perfect passing play from Ilya Protas and Andrew Cristall and evening the score at 2.

Just 37 seconds into the second, Brett Leason buried his second of the postseason, getting to the slot for a quick shot and giving the Bears a 3-2 lead.

Though Clay Stevenson and Hershey tried to shut things down, Avery Hayes scored with the goalie pulled to send things to overtime.

There, Rutger McGroarty tipped home a point shot that went off the back bar and out for his first of the playoffs just 5:03 into the extra frame. The win put the Penguins up 2-1 over the Bears in the best-of-5 series.

Ryan Chesley made his return from injury in the defeat, and picked up an assist and two shots, along with a plus/minus rating of minus-2.

Stevenson stopped 23 of 27 shots for a .852 save percentage. Cristall also attempted a Michigan in the third period.

Hershey will look to keep its season alive on Thursday when it hosts Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for Game 4. If the Bears are able to pull off a win, they'll face the Penguins on the road for a do-or-die Game 5.

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