Hershey Bears vs Coachella Valley Firebirds Game 3: Preview, prediction, where & how to watch | Calder Cup Finals 2023

Game 3 of the Calder Cup Finals goes down on Tuesday night between the Hershey Bears and Coachella Valley Firebirds.

The Bears advanced to the Calder Cup Finals with a six-game series win over the Rochester Americans but are down 0-2 to the Firebirds. Coachella, meanwhile, got to the Calder Cup Finals as they beat the Milwaukee Admirals in six games as well.

Game 3 goes down on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET.

How to watch Hershey Bears vs Coachella Valley Firebirds

Every AHL game, including the Calder Cup playoffs, can be seen live on AHLTV at watchtheahl.com.

After the Firebirds hosted the first two games - and won both - the series heads to Hershey, where the Bears are in desperate need of a win. Coachella Valley is the AHL affiliate of the Seattle Kraken and they are doing this all in their first year as an AHL team.

The Hershey Bears, meanwhile, are the longest-running AHL team and are the affiliates of the Washington Capitals. Yet, despite being arguably the best franchise in AHL history, they find themselves in a hole here as they look for their 12th Calder Cup.

“He’s been there and done that,” Tye Kartye said of Firebirds head coach Dan Bylsma. “Just hearing about some of the incredible players he coached before, and trying to practice and incorporate it into your game, I think is pretty cool.”

The Bears, meanwhile, think penalties have been killing them and say Game 3 is critical for them.

“It’s pretty obvious that the penalties killed us. A lot of players didn’t get a lot of ice time because we were killing penalties. We’ve got to smarten up. The guys were executing their game plan,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said.

“We’ve dug ourselves a bit of a hole, and Game 3 is very important for obvious reasons.”

X-Factor: Hunter Shepard hasn't been very good in the Calder Cup Finals so if Hershey is going to win Game 3 and make this a series, the goaltender will need to be better.

Coachella has scored nine goals against Shepard - and although the Bears have been shut out in both games - some early goals have taken the momentum away from Hershey early. A few big saves early from Shepard could go a long way in the Bears winning Game 3.

Hershey Bears vs Coachella Valley Firebirds Game 3: Prediction

Joey Daccord has recorded two shutouts in the Calder Cup Finals as he is playing the best hockey of his career, at no better time. Yet, Hershey is much better at home, so I do expect them to be more disciplined and have success early on and get the first goal and ride the momentum to a much-needed Game 3 win.

Hershey Bears 3, Coachella Valley Firebirds 1