Monarchs lose Game 5

Francois Bouchard’s goal, 10:38 into overtime, gave the Hershey Bears a 3-2 victory over the Manchester Monarchs in Game 5 of the AHL Eastern Conference Finals. Hershey now leads the series 3-2, and the Monarchs will have to win at Hershey on Saturday and Sunday to advance to the Calder Cup Finals. Bud Holloway and Jake Muzzin scored third-period goals to give the Monarchs leads of 1-0 and 2-1, respectively, but the Bears tied the game in the final minute of the third period. Jonathan Bernier stopped 31 of 34 shots.

The game was scoreless until the third period, when Holloway scored a power-play goal at the four-minute mark, with assists from Thomas Hickey and Dwight King. The Monarchs held the lead until 8:19 remained, when Kyle Wilson scored. The Monarchs took the lead back with 2:34 remaining when Muzzin scored on the power play, with assists from Hickey and Holloway, but with their net empty, the Bears tied the game with 51 seconds remaining on Chris Bourque’s goal.

(Special thanks to Bako for all the great play-by-play on the blog comments. He’s the Internet “voice” of the Monarchs!)