Harry Lichtman
The Washington Capitals’ AHL affiliate Hershey Bears clinched a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs. They did so with a dominant 5-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Wednesday.
Ivan Miroshnichenko, Ilya Protas, and Clay Stevenson all returned after being called up by the Capitals. They helped Hershey clinch a playoff spot for the sixth consecutive season and the first under head coach Derek King.
Miroshnichenko recorded his 13th goal of the season on the power play along with an assist, while Protas finished with two assists. Protas has 64 points through 67 games, which lead all AHL rookies and rank sixth in the league. Meanwhile, Miroshnichenko now has 100 career AHL points.
Stevenson started in net a day after stopping 27 of 28 shots to help the Capitals beat Columbus. He fared even better with 32 saves on 33 shots in the Bears’ victory.
Corey Schueneman and Matt Strome, Dylan’s younger brother, also contributed with goals for Hershey. Then, in the third period, Alexander Suzdalev and Sam Bitten both recorded empty-netters to seal the win.
Unfortunately, Bogdan Trineyev suffered an upper-body injury in the second period and did not return. It’s bad enough the Bears were already missing some key players in the lineup.
With the win, Hershey improves to 31-30-6-3 and currently sits fifth in the Atlantic Division. They have two games remaining which will determine who their first-round opponent will be.
