Hershey Bears/Washington Capitals goalie Clay Stevenson (33) looks on during a game against the Carolina Hurricanes at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. (Source: Daniel Kucin Jr.-Imagn Images)The Hershey Bears beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2-1 to level the Atlantic Division Semifinals 1-1 in the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs.
The first shot in the game hadn't even been registered when Hershey's Aaron Ness committed a double minor penalty, putting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on a four-minute power play at the 3:41 mark of the opening period. The Penguins put up just one shot in those four minutes. That one shot would be one of only three for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the period as they were outshot by Hershey 8-3 in the frame, setting the Bears to put up the game-opening power play goal via the stick of forward Brett Leason and being up 1-0 by first intermission.
The Penguins began the second period with 1:57 minutes of power play time trickling over from the first, but even with the man-advantage, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton were outshot 2-1 during this time. After that, the Penguins kept the shot differential relatively close at 9-8 in their favor despite Hershey getting two power plays. But at the 17:11 mark of the second frame, Bears forward Bogdan Trineyev would punch in the game-winning goal past Penz goalie Sergei Murashov to go up 2-0 heading into the second break.
A desperate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team came out hot in the third period, outshooting Hershey 5-1 in the first 3:30 minutes and successfully cut the Bears' lead down 2-1. All thanks to a goal by forward Aidan McDonough with the first shot of the frame. The Penguins fought tooth and nail to mount a comeback as they outshot the Bears 17-7 the rest of the way, but never found the all-important equalizer, allowing the Bears to escape Wilkes-Barre Township with the series-leveling win.
Hershey goalie Clay Stevenson made 36 saves off 37 shots for a save percentage of 0.973.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie and AHL All-Star Murashov made 24 saves off 26 shots for a save percentage of 0.923.