In a best of seven playoff series, any team with a 3-1 lead has distinct advantage. This is entirely false when that team is the Washington Capitals, and it holds that slim advantage over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals blew 3-1 leads against the Penguins in 1992 and 1995, and blew a 2-0 lead to the Penguins in 1996.

Since this season’s Hershey Bears are one-third composed of players from this season’s Washington Capitals, they probably don’t want a 3-1 lead over the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins in the AHL’s East Division Finals. Unfortunately, after winning the first three games and then losing last night, that’s what the Bears have got.

Adding to the tension, the Bears are now missing two of their best offensive players. Eric Fehr has been out since the start of the playoffs. Friday, Joey Tenute joined him on the injured list with a broken rib and a punctured lung. Tenute was second on the bears in points this season, and at the time of his injury he had four goals in seven playoff games. Tenute has consistently exceeded expectations at every level since joining the Capitals organization as an ECHL free agent. The Bears will miss him.

These key injuries have given Andrew Joudrey an oportunity to impress. Joudrey is apparently skipping finals in his senior year at the University of Wisconsin to help the Bears in the playoffs. In his first four professional games, he has one assist and a plus one rating.

The injuries also place more pressure on Capitals prospects Dave Steckel, Chris Bourque and Alexandre Giroux to generate scoring. Although Steckel is known as more of a defensive forward in the NHL, he has steadily increased his scoring in the AHL, and even notched his first NHL goal with the Capitals this year. He currently leads the Bears in playoff scoring with nine points in nine games.

At 6’5″ and 222lbs, Steckel has already shown he can help out defensively in the NHL. This year, for the first time since he was drafted, he’s showing the offensive ability that prompted the LA Kings to pick him in the first round. If he keeps up this postseason scoring pace, he will get a solid shot to make the NHL out of training camp this summer.

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