The Hershey Bears kicked off the longest road trip in franchise history on Friday night in Cleveland. It’s a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals against the Monsters. Three different players scored for the Bears and Clay Stevenson posted a 24-save shutout, his second of the year. The two teams will rematch on Saturday in a 4:00 PM EST puck drop.
Bears Start Strong
Hershey owned the opening twenty minutes of play at Rocket Arena. Outshooting the home team by a 15-4 count, the Bears snagged a 2-0 lead in a back-and-forth contest. They opened the scoring halfway through the opening stanza courtesy of Nicky Leivermann’s second AHL goal. Hendrix Lapierre made a slick play to jump on a loose puck and carry it the other way. He’d set up Leivermann, who was able to close in and beat Jet Greaves.
Lapierre extends his point streak to eight consecutive games with the helper. Leivermann, who made his Calder Cup Playoff debut in the back half of the Finals, picked up his second AHL goal. In his first full season, Leivermann said he’s playing with more confidence of late.
“Just confidence,” Leivermann said after the first period. “i had a tough stretch there for three or four games where I lacked defensively. It took a little bit out of my offensive production, but I’m a lot more confident with the puck and in my own zone.”
Hershey had a strong outing on the power play, where they doubled their lead a few minutes later. Ivan Miroshnichenko’s hard shot spiked off the pad of Greaves and to Alex Limoges with space down low. The Penn State product buried the loose puck for his 200th AHL point. Miroshnichenko extended his point streak to five straight with the assist.
“Miro’s got a big shot,” Limoges said after the game. “Whenever the puck is going to him, I just try to provide an option. I was lucky to bury it.”
Sensational Stevenson
Hershey’s backstop earned his clean sheet much as he did recently in Charlotte. Cleveland pushed hard in the second and third periods of play while Hershey sat back a little bit. Stevenson made several key saves, including multiple stops on Luca Del Bel Belluz. The Cleveland forward was denied five times by Stevenson including two point-blank opportunities down low.
Hershey’s defensive game is slowly coming around. After only owning one shutout since the start of the season, Hershey suddenly has three in their last five games. Stevenson made 20 saves in the last 40 minutes of action as Cleveland had a 20-16 shot edge over that span. His efforts were crucial in keeping the Monsters from mounting a comeback, something they were good at in the 2024 playoff series.
Stevenson has wins in four consecutive starts for the Bears, with the win his 14th overall. After being part of a record-setting tandem in his rookie season, Stevenson has overcome a slow start with some solid play of late.
Third Period Thrills
Hershey eventually extended the lead to 3-0 in the final frame. The Bears connected for another power play goal on a deflection for Luke Philp. He got a deflection off a shot from Spencer Smallman at the point for his fifth goal of the campaign. It’s a nice reward for Philp, who overcame an early injury the last time these two teams met in October. His play has steadily improved, and he was rewarded with a goal in this game.
Chase Priskie collected the other assist, the only multi-point player in Friday’s game. The Bears are balancing Priskie’s games a little in recent time, a strategic move for the defender. Their aim is to keep him below 320 total regular season games played at the end of the season. Keeping him below that count would allow him to count as a veteran-exempt player in 2025-26.
Philp’s goal proved to be the difference-maker in this game as Hershey collected a 3-0 final score. It was a successful homecoming for defender Andrew Perrott, who returned home with family in attendance. The native of Columbia Station, Ohio attended games in Cleveland as a kid and earned his way onto Hershey’s roster.
Money in the Bank
Hershey earns two points on a night where their Atlantic Division opposition did the same. Providence and Wilkes-Barre collected wins to stay three and five points behind Hershey, respectively. The win helps reduce Hershey’s magic number to clinch a playoff spot. With the first edition of the AHL’s Playoff Primer out, Hershey reduced the number from 15 to 13 with the win. Since the top team outside of the playoff race, Hartford, lost, that count should be reduced further to 11.
The two teams are set to rematch on Saturday at an earlier 4:00 PM EST start time. Hershey will look to take the win in the four-game season series with another win. The Bears will face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a major showdown on Wednesday.
