The Capitals made history on Friday night, as Alexander Ovechkin tied Wayne Gretzky’s all-time NHL goals record, and continues to close in on taking sole leadership of hockey’s most prestigious record. Three recent Bears got to be part of it, including Hunter Shepard, who was called up earlier Friday to Washington.
The 29-year-old Shepard has a 22-11-3 record with Hershey this season and has played four career games with the Caps. Shepard put together a remarkable campaign in 2023-24 in Chocolatetown, going 27-4-3, and a 1.76 goals against that led the AHL.
With Washington, Shepard has a 2-1-1 record with a .894 save percentage.
It’ll be time once again for Clay Stevenson to step up in net for Hershey. He started with a visit to Allentown on Friday night, saving 32 of 33 shots from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a 2-1 win.
“I’ve always trusted him, but he had a tough outing in the last game, and he bounced back. It’s just great on him,” said Todd Nelson. “And we’re going to have to rely on him and [Garin Bjorklund] as well, because we won’t see Shep for a bit.”
Bjorklund was re-assigned to Hershey on March 25 from the South Carolina Stingrays in the ECHL. While Shepard is in Washington D.C., Bjorklund will serve as the backup.