The Portland Pirates came up just short on Sunday, with the Florida Panthers AHL affiliate dropping a hard-fought Game 5 to the host Hershey Bears by a 2-1 count. The Bears won the series three games to two and advance to face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Atlantic Division Finals.
Hershey's Sean Collins opened the scoring at the 14:19 mark of the first period, with the lone assist going to Liam O'Brien.
The Bears doubled the lead 8:29 into the second period when defenseman Ryan Stanton beat Mike McKenna.