Even in going down 2-0 on the road in the opening minutes of Game 3, Bears captain Dylan McIlrath felt that his team had emerged relatively unscathed.
“I thought that we were fine, to be honest, in the first,” McIlrath said during the post-game press conferences on Tuesday night. “I thought our compete, everything that we wanted to talk about in our pre-game, we tried to accomplish. Their building was rocking. Their fans, when they get an early goal, they’re right into it.
“I thought we weathered it as best we could, and I thought our first was solid.”
The Bears eventually tied the contest 1:29 into the second period, but the Firebirds did not let up and rolled to a 6-2 win, taking a two-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series. The four unanswered goals left Hershey with lots to ponder and correct before tonight; the Bears repeatedly lost defensive-zone battles for loose pucks and rebounds that cost them dearly.
“I think our execution is a little off,” McIlrath continued. “It’s something we have to address. We need to simplify some things. For our team, we’ve got to stick to what we do well. We don’t want to try to play their game because they will out-skill us. We just definitely have to get the work boots on next game and play to our strengths.”
Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma credited assistant coach Stu Bickel, a 10-year pro defenseman in the AHL and NHL, for his work with the club’s blue line and its penalty kill.
Two defensive prospects, Ryker Evans and Ville Ottavainen, were taken in Seattle’s inaugural 2021 draft class and are already established producers for the Firebirds.
Evans, a second-round pick, has already made contributions in Seattle, playing 36 games for the Kraken this season. Ottavainen, who plays a quiet, reliable game, has been praised by Bylsma for his work all year; the fourth-round choice had 34 points and a plus-27 rating in 70 games in 2023-24.
“He’s done a great job of working with our defense and developing our defense,” Bylsma said of Bickel. “You see it not just in the young guys, but the older guys as well. He’s a big part of how our ‘D’ play.”
There were no lineup changes heading into Game 3. Coachella Valley remained without Andrew Poturalski and Hershey was missing Garrett Roe, both injured in Game 1 of the series.
Bears goaltender Hunter Shepard got a rare breather as he was pulled following the Firebirds’ fifth goal on Tuesday. Clay Stevenson finished up for Shepard, playing the final 13 minutes. Shepard, who has started all 37 of Hershey’s playoff games over the last two springs (25-12, 2.36, .913), has a 4.39 GAA and an .865 save percentage in five starts at Acrisure Arena.
― with files from Patrick Williams
