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Washington Capitals: Hershey Bears Host Charlotte Checkers in Game 4 Wednesday Night

By Michael Marzzacco |
CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 24: Hershey Bears goalie Ilya Samsonov (35) faces a shot during the second period of the American Hockey League game between the Hershey Bears and Cleveland Monsters on March 24, 2019, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
CLEVELAND, OH - MARCH 24: Hershey Bears goalie Ilya Samsonov (35) faces a shot during the second period of the American Hockey League game between the Hershey Bears and Cleveland Monsters on March 24, 2019, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

After blowing a lead and surrendering the game-winning goal in the final minutes, the Hershey Bears have their backs to the wall.

The Hershey Bears, the Washington Capitals AHL affiliate, is down 3-0 in the Atlantic Division Finals (second round) of the Calder Cup playoffs against the Charlotte Checkers. The Checkers, an affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, are one of the top teams in the AHL.

The Bears will face elimination for the second time this spring. In their first round series against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders), they took part in a winner-take-all Game 5.

That’s not quite the same as trailing a series but it’s still win or go home. But now the Bears are down 3-0 in a series for the first time since their 2016 appearance in the Calder Cup Final against the Lake Erie Monsters (Columbus Blue Jackets).

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The Bears did get off to a roaring start in Game 3, no pun intended, on a deflection goal from Nathan Walker and Ryan Sproul provided a great slapshot-like pass to set up Walker. That goal came late in the opening period at 18:56.

If there’s one thing the Bears would like to improve on, it’s the power play. In Game 3, the Bears went 0-for-6 and they’ve only scored two power play goals all postseason long out of 31 opportunities.

Each of the Bears two power play goals were one per series. In this Atlantic Division Finals, Jayson Megna had the power play goal in Game 2.

The Bears had a great first period but the Checkers pushed in the second. They outshot the Bears 12-2 and tied the game thanks to Aleksi Saarela.

It was deadlocked at one throughout much of the period and the Bears weren’t able to take advantage of some valuable chances to get in front and possibly win the game.

Stelio Mattheos delivered the dagger with 2:08 to go and Saarela provided the empty net goal to deliver the dagger.

Capitals head coach Todd Reirden made an appearance at the Bears morning skate on Wednesday and will likely be in attendance tonight.

Just how good are the Checkers? They finished with 110 points and are a combined 42-0-0-0 between regular season and playoffs when leading after two periods. They also finished with the best record in the AHL at 51-17-7-1 during the regular season with 110 points.

Next. Recap of Game 3. dark

Puck drop Wednesday night from Giant Center in Hershey is at 7 p.m. You can watch the game online at AHLTV or listen on the radio on Caps Radio 24/7.

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