PORTLAND, Maine - Brett MacLean registered a goal and two assists and Brett Sterling scored two power play goals Friday in the Portland Pirates' 6-4 victory over the Hershey Bears at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
Thanks to a shootout loss by the Connecticut Whale, the Bears can finish no lower than fifth place in the Eastern Conference and will face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins next week in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. The Penguins will have home-ice advantage and will host the first two games.
The AHL will announce the playoff schedule on Saturday.
After Sterling’s second power play goal of the night made the score 5-3 at 2:08 of the third period, Hershey's Ryan Potulny buried his league-leading 18th power-play goal of the season to pull the Bears with one.
Kenndal McArdle later turned and sent a low wrist shot past Hershey goalie Daren Machesney to give the Pirates a 6-4 advantage.
The Bears are now 38-24-4-8 (88 points) with two games remaining.
Information used in this story was provided by the Hershey Bears.
