The hardest thing to do in sports is to win four games in a row. The Hershey Bears were tasked with that challenge on Thursday night and fell just short by a 3-2 margin to the Cleveland Monsters at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The defeat snapped Hershey's playoff win streak which stretched for seven games. The Monsters opened up the scoring as Josh Dunne beat Hunter Shepard just 2:10 into the game. The Bears would tie it thanks to Ethen Frank scored his ninth goal of the playoffs at 18:07.
Both goals in the opening period were power play strikes. Frank's goal was assisted by Joe Snively and Mike Vecchione.
The Monsters pulled ahead 2-1 at 7:46 of the middle frame with Roman Ahcan scoring off the rush. Jake Gaudet would make it 3-1 in the third period before Garrett Roe would close the gap to 3-2 at 5:55.
What's next?
The Bears and Monsters square off once again from Cleveland on Saturday June 8 with a 7 p.m. eastern puck drop. It'll air on TV in the Hershey area on WPMT FOX 43.2 and in the DMV on Monumental Sports Network. You can also watch the game online via AHLTV. To stream the game check out this link from our friends at fuboTV:
"fuboTV has live NHL games on ESPN which you can stream from your phone, television, and all your favorite devices. This is a service that broadcasts live TV over the internet, no cable is required. Watch your favorite teams, network shows, news, and movies on 100+ channels. Plus on-demand entertainment including full TV series. fuboTV is currently available in the United States, Canada, and Spain."
To buy tickets to Game 6 if it is necessary and goes that far you can do so here.
Who was in/out of the lineup
The Bears were without Aaron Ness, Pierrick Dube and Henrik Rybinski at warmups per Zack Fisch of the Bears. Hardy Haman-Aktell, Matthew Phillips, and Ryan Strome were in. Meanwhile in Milwaukee the Coachella Valley Firebirds failed to complete their sweep of the Admirals.