The Hershey Bears came home tonight to face the top-seeded Providence Bruins in Game 3 during the first round of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Going into tonight's game the Bears led 2-0 in the best of 5 series. A win from the Bears tonight would have eliminated Providence from the playoffs. Michael Latta opened up scoring for the Bears early in the first period, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead. Providence then responded with a goal of their own to even out the score. Providence had their go ahead, and there was no stopping them. Although the Bears looked strong during the first period, overall Providence out skated them and even during the Bears 2 man advantage power play, they could not manage to score. The Providence penalty kills and goal tending skills of Svedberg kept the Bears from closing the gap that had grown to 3-1 in the second period. During the third period Providence put the game out of reach for the Bears when they drove to the net, scoring twice during power play opportunities, putting the game at 1-5.
The Bears still lead this series 2-1 and will face the Providence Bruins in Hershey again tomorrow. In order for the Bears to win tomorrow they will have to come in strong, put the pressure on and skate hard. Tonight they had bad line changes, turn overs and they were not winning very many puck battles. The Bears had a lot of mistakes and missed opportunities tonight, which was disappointing since their performance in the first period was strong. In AHL history, nine teams have been able to win the best- of -five series after losing the first two, while only two teams have been able to do it when the first two games were on their home ice. Providence had a very strong season, winning consecutive games and ended their season with a nine game winning streak, coming back to win this series is a possibility for Providence. The Hershey Bears do have a potential threat on their hands, they need to get out on their home ice tomorrow and dominate.
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