Cristall scores twice as Hershey sweeps Bridgeport, advances to semis

Andrew Cristall’s two goals were the eye-catching part; the bigger story was Hershey doing what Hershey does in April, shutting the door on Bridgeport with a 5-2 win at Giant Center and a clean two-game sweep. The Bears did not just survive the first round of the Atlantic Division playoffs. They ended it quickly, decisively and with the kind of depth that makes every opponent take a second look.

That starts with how the series was set up. Hershey took Game 1 in Bridgeport, 2-0, behind David Gucciardi’s tiebreaking goal with 7:29 left in regulation and Clay Stevenson’s 18-save shutout, his first of the season and first Calder Cup Playoff shutout. In AHL history, teams that win Game 1 of a best-of-three have gone on to take the series 75 times in 89 tries, an 84.3 percent clip that made Hershey’s opener a heavy swing in the Bears’ favor.

Game 2 still had moments of tension. Matt Luff tied it 1-1 on a power play at 1:07 of the second period after Hershey had opened the scoring, but Sam Bitten answered with the kind of goal that changes a series, breaking the tie with 9:05 left in the second and putting the Bears back in charge. From there, Cristall took over the scoreboard, scoring twice to give Hershey the separation that Bridgeport could never quite erase.

Bridgeport made one last push when Cal Ritchie cut the lead to 3-2 at 9:57 of the third period, but Hershey finished like a team that already knew the script. The Bears scored empty-net goals at 17:57 and 18:26 to seal the 5-2 win and finish the sweep without needing a third night of uncertainty.

That is the part that matters for the next round. Hershey advanced to the division semifinals, where it will face either Providence or Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and the Bears enter that matchup with the profile that has defined their championship runs: a league-record 11 Calder Cup titles, back-to-back championships in 2023 and 2024, and the ability to close a series before the pressure can grow. Bridgeport, meanwhile, ended a season under Rocky Thompson, hired June 23, 2025 as the 10th head coach in franchise history, still looking for the reset it spent the year trying to build.