The Washington Capitals' Hershey Bears will not go for back-to-back-to-back Calder Cups, as a Game 3 defeat on Wednesday resulted in elimination from the playoffs.
The Bears fell 6-3 in a must-win Game 3 against the Charlotte Checkers, who were able to sweep the Bears in the best-of-5 Atlantic Division Finals to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Capitals prospect Bogdan Trineyev opened the scoring and Mike Vecchione added an insurance goal to make it 2-0, but the Checkers surged for five straight goals before Ivan Miroshnichenko cut it to 5-3 late. Charlotte secured the series with an empty-net goal to send the defending champions packing.
It's a tough way to go out for the Bears, who won the Calder Cup in 2023 and 2024 and finished with the second-most points in the AHL in the regular season.
Still, there were bright spots for Hershey in the postseason, especially when it came to rising players in Washington's system.
Trineyev, who could make the NHL jump next year and slot into a fourth-line role, led the Bears in scoring these playoffs with five goals and two assists for seven points in eight playoff games. Virginia native Alex Limoges had a team-leading five assists, and Ivan Miroshnichenko also finished with three goals this postseason.
Ilya Protas and Andrew Cristall also got a glimpse of life at the AHL level, as each earned call-ups for the playoff run as black aces. Even though they didn't play, it was still a valauble experience and step forward in their development with each likely to make the pro jump sooner raqther than later following stellar junior seasons.
With the AHL season over, the offseason officially kicks off for the Capitals' organization.