Just as they did in Thursday’s opener, Hershey gave up a game-tying goal late in regulation but pulled out the win in overtime, taking a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals with a 3-2 victory over Cleveland at a sold-out Giant Center on Saturday.
The series shifts to Cleveland with Game 3 of the best-of-seven scheduled for Tuesday evening.
Pierrick Dubé was the hero of Game 2, netting the winning goal at 13:54 of the extra session. The play started with Dubé forcing a turnover behind his own net and skating up ice before dishing to Jimmy Huntington at the offensive blue line. Huntington hit Dubé with a return pass and Dubé beat Jet Greaves on the glove side for his second goal of the postseason.
David Jiricek, who scored with 19.1 seconds left in regulation of Game 1 to force overtime, did it again in Game 2, blasting a shot past Hunter Shepard with 1:33 remaining and Greaves on the bench for an extra attacker.
The contest was scoreless until Garrett Roe scored for Hershey with 5:25 left in the second period. Josh Dunne responded for Cleveland before the intermission.
Ethen Frank gave the Bears the lead again with 8:39 to play, his fifth consecutive game scoring a goal.
Cleveland outshot Hershey 20-3 during the third period and the first 10-plus minutes of overtime, but the Bears answered with a 7-1 run in shots to finish the game.
Shepard (8-1) made 34 saves on the night and improved to 6-0 for his career in playoff overtime games.
Greaves (5-3) stopped 27 shots for Cleveland.
(Hershey leads series, 2-0)
Game 1 – Thu., May 30 – HERSHEY 5, Cleveland 4 (OT)
Game 2 – Sat., June 1 – HERSHEY 3, Cleveland 2 (OT)
Game 3 – Tue., June 4 – Hershey at Cleveland, 7:00
Game 4 – Thu., June 6 – Hershey at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 5 – Sat., June 8 – Hershey at Cleveland, 7:00
*Game 6 – Mon., June 10 – Cleveland at Hershey, 7:00
*Game 7 – Wed., June 12 – Cleveland at Hershey, 7:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
