The Bears have won game one over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 3-0, in a strong showing to begin the 2025 AHL postseason. It’s a big swing of momentum in the five-game series, and the GIANT Center will play host to game 2 on Friday, and a rocking Hershey crowd.

Lehigh Valley is rowdy … as always

The Phantoms are usually a rowdy crowd, and this game was no different. There were 10 penalties across the two teams, six belonging to Lehigh Valley. Six were for roughing, four of those being from the Phantoms. It’s going to be important for Hershey to keep composure and not feed into any extra-curriculars through this series against a fiesty squad. But, the Bears have seen this before, with 10 meetings in the regular season with LV and a postseason meeting in last year’s Atlantic Division semifinals.

Garrett Wilson was the first Phantom to get in the box, as did Ivan Miroshnichenko, starting a 4-on-4. Wilson is an AHL veteran, with his first playoff run dating back to 2015. He knows how to get guys rowdy, and the mental battle for Hershey is important.

“If you don’t have emotion in the playoffs, something is wrong,” said Hershey Bears coach Todd Nelson.

Shep was huge

Hershey can win games without winning shots on goal battles, and they have many times before. Tonight, they did, but only 27-26. That means 26 shots faced Hunter Shepard in net for the Bears, and every single one was denied. He could not have been better to kick off the playoffs.

This including a 5-on-3 kill by Shepard, which juiced the playoff crowd and cemented what was already an impressive outing by Shep. This also included 11 shots in the third period, a period in which the game was only 1-0 for seven minutes.

The Capitals are moving on

The Washington Capitals are moving past the Montreal Canadians and facing the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference Semis. Depending on your perspective, this is good or bad.

A lot of heads turn towards Ethan Bear potentially returning to Hershey even with the Caps’ win, but Todd Nelson says there has been no communication as of now to that opportunity.