ALBANY --- Center Jay Beagle knocked in a loose puck 16:14 into overtime to lift the Hershey Bears past the Albany River Rats, 6-5 in Game 3 of the East Division final.
The Bears take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series and can secure a berth in the Eastern Conference final with a victory in Game 4 on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Albany.
This is the second overtime game of the series as Hershey won Game 1, 4-3 in extra time.
With Albany on a five-minute power play after Hershey defenseman Bryan Helmer speared left wing Brad Herauf after time in the second period had expired, center Zac Dalpe scored 2:22 into the power play for a 4-3 Rats lead.
After left wing Chris Bourque scored a shorthanded goal at 3:56, center Mike Angeldis moved in on the left side and beat goalie Braden Holtby stick side to provide Albany with a 5-4 advantage.
The Bears drew even at 5-5 on left wing Alexandre Giroux's power-play goal at 16:14.
Hershey has now won eight consecutive games against Albany stretching back to the regular season.
The Rats scored two goals within the first five minutes of the game, including converting on their first power play of the game as Dalpe moved in on the right side and beat goalie Braden Holtby glove side at 1:55.
Dalpe then set up the second goal as he won the faceoff in the Hershey zone and sent the puck to Oskar Osala, who scored from in close for a 2-0 advantage at 4:13.
After the Bears pulled within 2-1 as right wing Ashton Rome sent a backhander past Justin Peters at 5:31, the Rats responded as right wing Drayson Bowman finished off an odd-man rush by snapping a shot over Holtby's right shoulder at 11:22 for a 3-1 lead.
But Hershey struck on their power play as Andrew Gordon finished off a feed from left wing Bourque at 13:58. The Bears scored on its next shot on Bourque's goal at 15:41 to pull even at 3-3.