Power play. It’s the talk of Chocolatetown, and for good reason. The Bears are 1 for 16 on the power play in the three games they’ve had with Lehigh Valley in this playoff series. The Phantoms have had three goals while Hershey’s on the power play this season. Plain and simple, a man-up has been a man-down lately, and now, Hershey is in do-or-die mode, facing elimination in game four of the Atlantic Division semifinals on Friday night.

“When we get on the power play, we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot, and give up three shorthanded goals. That’s the difference in this series right now as far as I’m concerned. So, we made some tweaks today in practice. I wanted to see what it looked like, and I liked what I saw.”

Time will tell in terms of what those changes will be, but one thing is very clear. The Bears can’t afford any more miscues in five-on-five or special teams play to stay alive in the series.

The good news? They’ve been here before. Things have been on the downward trajectory for the team, and tough conversations have had to occur in the past, even as recent as last year.

Hershey had a 3-0 lead after 5-4, 3-2 and 6-2 wins over Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, the Monsters crept back, winning games four, five and six. In Game 6, Hershey led 2-1 with 33 seconds to go. 33 seconds, all that stood between the Bears heading back to the Calder Cup Finals. But, Cleveland and Brendan Gaunce had other ideas, and and overtime it was. An overtime that Hershey lost, and sent things to a Game 7. Hershey went on to win Game 7, and win the Calder Cup.

“Yeah, it’s similar,” Nelson said of the two scenarios. “There’s obviously going to be pressure in that situation when you’re up three-nothing in a series. I got to be honest, I was nervous before that game. But, I feel fine going into this game. I just know if we play the way we can, from all 20 guys, we’ll have a good chance of winning the game.”

“I just remember coming in last year for the Game 7 against Cleveland, or even after the Game 6, and feeling a certain calmness in the locker,” Lapierre said, drawing back on those memories of the Cleveland series last year. “As a younger guy, seeing those veterans, I’ve talked about that before, not being too worried or too stressed out, I think it helps a lot. Have that mentality of ‘Do whatever it takes, just give it your all and we’ll see what happens.’ But, we’ve been there before, and we responded well.”

Hershey also dealt with it in Game 7 of the Calder Cup Finals, on the road, against Coachella Valley in 2023. Mike Vecchione scored the game-winning goal in overtime of that game. Hendrix Lapierre scored the second period equalizer. Hunter Shepard saved 45 shots to Hershey’s 32. They certainly wouldn’t have won with Shepard’s huge game.

The group has certainly changed a good bit since that game in 2023, but a lot of the core remains. Shapard, Iorio, Lapierre, Vecchione, Ness, Sutter. They started this two years ago, and they don’t want to be the ones to finish it now.