The Capitals saw their up-and-comers rise to the occasion in a 2-1 win for Hershey.
The Hershey Bears roared back with a vengeance in Game 2 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday, and the Washington Capitals' top prospects played a big role in the series-tying win.
Bogdan Trineyev scored the game-winning goal, and Clay Stevenson stood on his head en route to a 2-1 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to send the best-of-5 series back to Chocolatetown.
Late in the first period on a power play, Ilya Protas thread the needle and found Brett Leason in front. Leason's initial bid was stopped, but his rebound attempt went in out of mid-air to make it a 1-0 game.
The second period saw the Penguins try and rally back, but Stevenson came up with a handful of strong saves, and Bogdan Trineyev buried a backhand feed from Andrew Cristall late to make it a 2-0 contest.
Though Aidan McDonough cut the lead to 2-1 early in the third, Stevenson put on a clinic to keep the Bears ahead, stopping 22 combined shots in the third and 34 over the last 40 minutes of play overall.
Stevenson finished the night with 36 saves on 37 shots for a .973 save percentage en route to the victory.
Protas and Cristall each finished the night with two assists, and Protas led the way with five shots while Trineyev ranked second with four.
Sonny Milano sat out once again with injury, and Ryan Chesley was also sidelined as Aaron Ness made his way back into the lineup.
Hershey returns home on Tuesday for Game 3 at 7 p.m.