The road did not end on Sunday for the Hershey Bears. The Bears were down 2-1, and flipped the switch on as soon as it turned off. With the Game 5 win, the Bears won their ninth straight playoff series, a new AHL record. The current Bears break the record of eight series wins, previously held by the 2009-2010 teams that won back-to-back Calder Cups.

It started with a scoring barrage on Lehigh Valley and goalie Cal Petersen, who came in midway through Game Three of the series, following Parker Gahagen leg injury. Petersen put together his best effort, but let up too many loose rebounds, and one was bound to get put in. It was Spencer Smallman who did the trick, landing a shot from Petersen’s left side, past his left shoulder and into the upper left corner of the goal. It was Hershey’s second shot of the game, with their first game coming just seconds before. 

It got the crowd going, and provided some breathing room. But not quite enough.

Enter Riley Sutter, a man on a mission in Game Five to keep this series going. Sutter scored two goals en route to Hershey’s twelfth Calder Cup in 2023, and after Sunday evening, he’s got two in this playoff run as well. His first came with 3:47 left in period one, on a two-on-one breakaway with Matt Strome. Strome fired a pass in front of goalie Cal Petersen and it was an easy shot at the net for Sutter. 

Sutter continued his momentum into the middle period, scoring an impressive goal with 6:52 to go in the second. Perhaps the more impressive play was from veteran Garrett Roe, who played the puck off the boards to find Sutter, who popped it past Petersen.

Roe has been a spark plug this series for Hershey, providing a veteran scrappy presence against a Lehigh Valley team that is tough to deal with, in terms of maintaining composure and staying out of extracurriculars that land you in the penalty box. He’s 37 years old, and spent 2013-2023 playing in the National League of Switzerland, the Swedish Hockey League, Deutsche Eishockey League and just about everywhere. He started with the Bears last year, scoring six postseason goals. His value in Game 4 and 5 has been pretty significant, and a strong assist in an elimination game only helps his case, with an expiring contract after the season. 

Then, it got a little dicy. Anthony Richard scored just over two minutes into the third period, and Hunter McDonald followed it up with another goal, with 5:57 to play. It was 3-2, and soon, Lehigh Valley pulled their goalie in an attempt to strike even. 

But, the puck got loose, and Bogdan Trineyev won a race to the puck against Emil Andrae, and slowly knocked it into an empty net for the 4-2 goal. So, there it was. The game-clinching, series-clinching goal for the Hershey Bears to win a rough, back and forth, bitter series with the Bears’ rival.

Last Sunday, Todd Nelson said that he didn’t think he was getting a hundred-percent from all of his players. This Sunday, the story is much different.

“I think the guys just realized it and it finally clicked in,” said Todd Nelson. “Like the last couple games from what I saw from our team we were playing predictable to each other – we’re not on our own page out there, we’re playing the team game. I just told the guys to trust the system and if it’s not working, we’ll tweak it and do whatever. But I thought the guys stuck with it and it was a total team effort, right from our goaltender on out.”

The game also stands out for what it was missing, penalties early on. Many expected the series finale to be a bloodbath, with lose or go home circumstances. But, only four penalties were recorded through the first two periods, a vast difference from the usual circumstance with a rival team in the playoffs.

“I think both teams were just kind of feeling each other out on what the refs were going to call tonight,” said Spencer Smallman, who scored the game-opening goal. “No one wanted to take super undisciplined penalties early and put their teams down.”

So, it’s on to the Charlotte Checkers, and the Atlantic Division Finals for the Bears after a roller coaster stretch to begin the postseason. As Todd Nelson left Sunday evening’s presser, he said “put your seat belts on.” And after the series we just witnessed, it’s more like keeping them on.

The first two games will start in Charlotte on Friday and Saturday night.