Hershey Falls To Rival Penguins In Game 1 Of Atlantic Division Semis As Milton Gästrin Makes Pro North American Debut

The Washington Capitals saw a handful of their prospects take steps forward on Thursday as their AHL-affiliate Hershey Bears opened the Atlantic Division Semifinals against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, but ultimately, it wasn't enough for a Game 1 win. Milton Gästrin made his pro North American hockey debut, and Ilya Protas and Henrik Rybinski scored, but it wasn't enough as Hershey couldn't complete the comeback in a 4-2 loss. Gästrin, who was re-assigned to Hershey following an impressive season playing overseas with MoDo Hockey, debuted on the third line with Wyatt Bongiovanni and Brett Leason.

The 18-year-old, who went in the second round of the 2025 NHL Draft, had 24 points in 39 games playing with MoDo's Hockeyettan team, and also got eight games up with the main club playing in HockeyAllsvenskan. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton jumped out to a 3-0 lead halfway through the second period, with former Capital Alex Alexeyev helping chip in on the offense. Shortly after that, Protas picked up his second goal of the playoffs, burying Bogdan Trineyev's feed from long range to make it a 3-1 game.

Andrew Cristall had the secondary helper. Early in the third, Leon Muggli got the puck to Ivan Miroshnichenko, who found Henrik Rybinski racing behind the defense. Rybinski, who led Hershey with six shots, made no mistake, sneaking a quick shot past Sergei Murashov to cut the deficit to one.

Ultimately, Hershey's comeback would come up short. With 55 seconds to go, Alexeyev got the puck to Avery Hayes, who iced an empty-netter for the win. The Bears now trail the best-of-3 series 1-0 and face elimination heading into Game 2.