Monarchs Making Magic

The Hershey Bears 2-0 series lead is now a thing of the past.

Manchester goalie Jonathan Bernier made 18 saves and Game 3 overtime hero Dwight King scored the lone goal as the Monarchs tied their best-of-seven series with Hershey 2-2, following a 1-0 victory over the Bears in Game 4 of the Calder Cup Eastern Conference finals at Verizon Wireless Arena Tuesday night.

After winning the first two games of the series at Giant Center, the Bears have dropped two straight games heading to Thursday’s critical Game 5 at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

It is now a best-of-three series and the first team to two wins, represents the Eastern Conference in the Calder Cup Finals.

It was a quiet night offensively for both teams at the start, with the game scoreless after one.

Manchester broke onto the scoreboard in the second period at the 9:11 mark when King redirected a Bud Holloway shot past Bears’ goalie Michal Neuvirth. The goal was King’s second of the playoffs, and it gave the Monarchs a 1-0 lead that would eventually be all that Bernier needed. Holloway continues to pace the Monarchs with 12 points (6-6-12) in 14 playoff games.

Manchester is 6-1 on home ice to this point in the Playoffs. The Bears have now gone five straight periods without registering double digit shots against Bernier and the Monarchs.

Bernier, the Baz Bastien Memorial Award winner, presented annually to the American Hockey League’s best goaltender, has been nothing short of spectacular this season for Manchester.

Following a regular season where his goals-against average stood at 2.03 with a .936 save percentage and nine shutouts, his post season has been even better.

Through 14 post-season games, Bernier, one of the NHL’s top-prospects, owns a 1.68 goals-against average and .943 save percentage with an AHL-leading three shutouts.

The Monarchs are a staggering  10-0 when Bernier allows two or fewer goals, and 0-4 when he surrenders three or more.

Neuvirth suffered his second defeat of the postseason, making 26 saves and  is 8-2 in the playoffs with a 2.21 goals against average and save percentage of .912.

Hershey is now 3-3 on the road in the playoffs and a perfect 7-0 at home, where they have won 36 of their last 37 games at Giant Center. The series is now guaranteed to return to Giant Center in Hershey for Game 6 on Saturday. If needed, Game 7 would be in Hershey on Sunday.

Hershey’s  Stefan Della Rovere made his AHL debut in the game and Hershey played its second straight game without the services of Andrew Gordon, sidelined with a lower body injury.

Dustin Leed is a journalist for the Lancester Intellegencer Joural which can be found online at LancasterOnline.com along with this article.

Follow Dustin on Twitter: @HockeyGuy_DLEED