There are three American Hockey League teams in Pennsylvania, and one of them has won plenty of times in the past. Another is looking to establish that perennial winning culture. In the Calder Cup Playoffs, one Pennsylvanian team is the favorite, and its rival opponent is the underdog.
This time around, the roles are reversed between the Hershey Bears and the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. The Penguins are the favorites after an incredible regular season where they ended up with the second-best record in the Atlantic Division. The Bears are the underdogs looking to pull off another series upset after defeating a higher-seeded Bridgeport Islanders team last week.
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This is a series that can and should go the distance. It will provide plenty of on-ice matchups and the game within the game to dare both coaches to make bold moves to find an edge. The Penguins enter this Calder Cup matchup as the better team. That said, the Bears are not the team they want to face.
For the Penguins, it all starts in the net. They have arguably the best young goaltender in the playoffs, certainly the best goaltending prospect. Sergei Murashov was dominant in the net with a .919 save percentage (SV%), a 2.22 goals-against average, and four shutouts while standing out as a technical and positional goaltender. “What puts him in the right position more often than not is how he reads and processes the game well. The anticipation, reading the play that’s in front of him,” his goaltending coach, Kain Tisi, mentioned in a conversation with The Hockey News.
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With the rest of the roster, the Penguins have the star power and depth to go on a run. They have the ideal mix from young future Pittsburgh Penguins like Ville Koivunen and Rutger McGroarty to veterans who are still playing at a high level, like Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Phil Kemp.
On top of that, the Penguins have the right culture in place. “They have a lot of fun, maybe too much fun,” head coach Kirk MacDonald noted halfway through the season on the tight-knit group. It’s a team with the right culture in place, one that not only helped develop the prospects but set this team up for the playoffs.
The Bears proved last week how they’ve come since the start of the season. Even through the rough times and the early-season struggles, head coach Derek King would mention that he liked where the team was at and the direction they were heading in. The series victory over the Islanders was the payoff as the Bears looked like a complete team that didn’t let mistakes cost them.
This team was expected to take a step back as a younger group that was learning the pro game. Suddenly, the Bears check off a lot of boxes for a Calder Cup contender. Like the Penguins, it starts in the net with Clay Stevenson playing great at the right time. In two playoff games, he allowed only two goals, and in his last seven starts, he’s allowed only 11 goals.
The Bears also have the star players who can take over a game or a series. Ilya Protas was the AHL Rookie of the Year and an elite two-way center, someone who will be on the Washington Capitals roster by the start of next season. Andrew Cristall is a dynamic winger with plenty of skill, something he put on display in Game Two's 5-2 victory over the Islanders. The star power gives the Bears an edge in this series, one that the Penguins can run into problems with.
The one edge that the Bears have is the top-end talent. The Cristall, Protas, and Bogdan Trineyev line is star-studded and can take over this series. Otherwise, the Penguins have the more complete roster, and it’s made them the favorites.
The Penguins have the depth where they can roll all four forward lines, and they have the blue line to win this series. Kemp and Owen Pickering have been great all season, especially as a shutdown pair, and they will be asked to play a big role in this series.
The other advantage for the Penguins is that this series will come down to mistakes, specifically, which team commits fewer of them. King has talked all season about removing bad habits, and at times, they cost the Bears games. On the flip side, the Penguins are a disciplined team that loves to make the most of their opponents' mistakes. So, the Bears are the underdogs and not expected to win this series but they’ll make it a good one that can work in their favor in the end.