Struggle To Close Games One, Two, Still Leaves Bears with Questions Heading to Cleveland
Well- that was a heck of a couple of games wasn’t it Bears Nation? If you watched both games, it probably felt like riding on one of the roller coasters across the road at Hersheypark. Up and downs all over the place through games one and two of the Eastern Conference Finals for the Bears end up in two wins and a 2-0 series lead over the Cleveland Monsters.
But while we love the overtime winners, celebrations and Zack Fisch goal calls in the moment, and they are a blast, it’s hard to put away the feeling that the Bears have not been at their best in these first two games.
That feeling is maybe best highlighted by the Bears inability to close out either game one or game two, as they held leads in the last two minutes of both games and blew both. Game one saw Cleveland score two in 1:02 to tie game one at four before heading to OT, with David Jiricek scoring with 19 seconds left to tie that game. Game two last night once again saw Jiricek tie up the game late, this time with another blast from the point with a 1:33 left in the game.
With the Bears heading to one of the more hostile playoff environments in Cleveland starting Tuesday for game three, these recent issues in late game situations have to be cleaned up if the Bears want to return home as Eastern Conference Champions from the city by the lake.
Coach Todd Nelson did not mince remarks about the Bears late game play after game two- “In the third period they took over. They had us hemmed in the zone and stuck playing a three-quarter game. Everytime we got the puck out we had to go for a change and they kept coming at us. At the start of overtime it was the same thing until we killed off that penalty and started to take over.”
A consistent theme of the Todd Nelson era though has been the ability for this staff to adjust quickly in key scenarios- and Nelson knows they have to do better in late game scenarios to win this series- “With three minutes left in the third, we took a late penalty again and it put us back in the same situation as game one. That’s two games in a row now it’s happened and we have to be able to fix things. I’m happy with the outcome, but Cleveland is a good hockey team and we have to play the full 60 minutes.”
Game two hero Pierrick Dubé said it clearly as well, “On the ice we have to make it easier for ourselves. They’re a really good hockey team and probably some of the best I’ve seen at 6 on 5 and 6 on 4 situations I’ve seen in my career. These situations are why we skate at the end of practices, to make sure we have legs, but we can be a little bit better and make it easier on ourselves.”
This is a team that has proven consistently that they can fix issues on the fly, and they will have to do it again to fix the late game issues that have plagued them so far this series. If they can, they will return from Cleveland as Eastern Conference Champions. If they don’t, they may be fighting for their playoff lives back at home in game six. I have full trust in this team that it can be the former. But this is a Cleveland team that refuses to die- and is the biggest challenge yet for the Bears in their quest to repeat as Calder Cup Champions.
Game three is Tuesday night in Cleveland, with the Bears looking to take a commanding 3 games to none series lead over the Monsters.
