The Capitals' AHL affiliate has now dropped three straight games and has its back against the wall with the Monsters evening the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Washington Capitals' AHL affiliate Hershey Bears are in unfamiliar territory, and they find themselves with their backs against the wall and facing a series collapse after a rough Game 6 overtime loss to the Cleveland Monsters in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Hershey took a 2-1 lead with 49.3 seconds left in regulation, with Joe Snively putting home his second goal of the playoffs off a picture-perfect passing play from Chase Priskie and Hendrix Lapierre.
That lead, which put them one step closer to a return to the Calder Cup Final, was quickly erased, though, as Brendan Gaunce tied the game just 17 seconds later to force overtime.
It was a tight matchup, and Henrik Rybinski also scored for the Bears in regulation, but Jake Christiansen would score late into the first overtime to secure a 3-2 victory for Cleveland.
Hunter Shepard stopped 29 of 32 shots in the loss (.906 save percentage), recovering fairly well after having been pulled last game after two periods in Saturday's 5-1 loss to the Monsters.
The Bears have now suffered three straight losses after dropping just one game to start this entire playoff run. Game 7 will be in Hershey on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, where Hershey faces elimination for the first time as Cleveland has come back and given them quite the series .
If the Bears can prevail and take the Eastern Conference title, they will play in a rematch of last year's final and face the Coachella Valley Firebirds, the Seattle Kraken's AHL affiliate.