{"id":603362,"date":"2026-04-24T09:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603362\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T09:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T09:35:08","slug":"andrew-cristall-scores-twice-as-hershey-bears-eliminate-bridgeport-islanders-from-playoffs-hes-got-a-knack-for-just-putting-up-points","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/603362\/","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Cristall scores twice as Hershey Bears eliminate Bridgeport Islanders from playoffs: \u2018He\u2019s got a knack for just putting up points\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

HERSHEY, PA \u2014 Andrew Cristall has officially arrived in the Calder Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Capitals\u2019 talented second-round pick from the 2023 NHL Draft scored twice in Game 2, helping the Hershey Bears complete the sweep of the Bridgeport Islanders and officially end the Isles\u2019 tenure in Connecticut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cristall scored once in the first period and again in the second \u2014 his first professional playoff goals.<\/p>\n

Andrew Cristall\u2019s first playoff goal<\/p>\n

Cristall\u2019s first goal came just 4:10 into the first period. Bears defenseman Jon McDonald threw a soft shot on net that rebounded off Islanders goaltender Marcus Hogberg right to Ilya Protas. The AHL Rookie of the Year then slid a slick feed to Cristall, who buried a shot from the slot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was a focal point of trying to get one early and get the crowd into it,\u201d Cristall said postgame. \u201cIt was a really hard-working shift by everybody on the ice, and I was fortunate to be on the back end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Cristall\u2019s second playoff goal<\/p>\n

Cristall showed off his hands to score his second of the night, 12:44 into the second period, to put the Bears up 3-1. Bogdan Trineyev laid out a perfect stretch pass to his linemate, who came in all alone on Hogberg and beat the netminder with a sweet move to his backhand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were jumping up the ice, and we had everybody back, Bogey makes an awesome play through the guy\u2019s stick, fed me, and I was off to the races,\u201d Cristall said. \u201cIt was a super great play, and it took everybody on that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Cristall scored, an extremely excited Ilya Protas jumped hard into the glass, tackling Cristall to the ice. The celebration was reminiscent of when Alex Ovechkin jumped into Sergei Fedorov after the latter scored in Game 7 to eliminate the New York Rangers in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

Cristall quipped to RMNB\u2019s Ian Oland that since he was just four years old at the time, he doesn\u2019t remember Fedorov\u2019s goal, but loved the fun celebration he had with Protas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Pro coming down, and it\u2019s a big kid jumping right into me,\u201d Cristall said. \u201cI went down with him, so it was pretty funny, but it\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ovechkin, coincidentally, was in attendance at the game with Aliaksei Protas<\/a>, cheering on the team\u2019s young players, including the younger Protas.<\/p>\n

Cristall finished the game with his two goals and four shots. His line, Hershey\u2019s top trio consisting of him, Protas, and Trineyev, combined for seven points (4g, 3a) in the short two-game series sweep.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, obviously, he\u2019s got a knack for just putting up points,\u201d head coach Derek King said. \u201cI call him a little rat because he does some things. He\u2019s got to learn to play that 200-foot game. You get mad at him because he\u2019s maybe on the wrong side of the puck, or he\u2019s stick-checking, and then you look on the score sheet after, he\u2019s got two goals, two assists, four points. So, how can you argue about it?<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he\u2019s playing much harder. He\u2019s being more physical on the wall, protecting pucks, being strong, getting the pucks out, and getting them in when he should. And then he\u2019s still getting his points. So now he knows that if he plays a 200-foot game, he\u2019s still going to get his cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hershey will now wait to find out the series winner between the Charlotte Checkers and the Springfield Thunderbirds. If Charlotte wins, the Bears will play the first-place Providence Bruins. If Springfield rallies, the Bears will play the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HERSHEY, PA \u2014 Andrew Cristall has officially arrived in the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Capitals\u2019 talented second-round pick…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-603362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}