Tuesday marked the 11th installment of the regular season series between the Hershey Bears and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Both teams entered play with plenty on the line coming down the stretch. As has been the case at times, the two teams were light on offense. The storyline once again turned to Bears goaltender Hunter Shepard, who stopped all 19 shots he faced in a 1-0 final score. It’s Shepard’s fifth shutout of the season and 12th combined with Clay Stevenson. Hershey’s tandem continues to pace the AHL and set the franchise mark for clean sheets in a single season. The win clinches the Atlantic Division title for the Bears for the first time since the 2015-16 campaign. Hershey improves to 48-12-0-5 on the season and hit the 100-point mark for the tenth time in team history. The Bears last hit 100 points during the 2014-15 season.
Playoff Aspirations
Hershey entered the day needing only a point to clinch the division title after their latest win in Hartford. The win brings the Frank Mathers Trophy back to Hershey just days after what would have been his 100th birthday. Mathers spent 35 years with the Bears as a player, coach, and manager. Not only is his number three retired in the rafters of Giant Center, but he is also an inducted member of the Hockey Hall of Fame. It’s just the latest accomplishment for the Bears in the regular season in their first game of April.
“We’re not finished yet,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said. “We want to make sure that, if we go the distance this year, we have home ice throughout the playoffs. There’s more goals ahead of us for the regular season. The guys who are playing for us that haven’t played a lot over the course of the regular season are doing a great job. With guys called up or banged up, it’s a total team effort. We have to play that way to be successful right now.”
Lehigh Valley is fighting for a playoff spot and loses out on valuable points with eight games on their schedule. The Phantoms are dueling the Springfield Thunderbirds for the sixth and final spot in the postseason. Lehigh Valley owns a two-point edge on Springfield, but will being holding their breath bright and early on Wednesday. The T-Birds are in Toronto for a matchup with the Marlies that would draw them even for sixth place. The two teams won’t face each other in the regular season, making for some interesting scoreboard watching.
Dubé Doubles Down
The lone goal of the hockey game happened early on before a crowd of 9,780 at Giant Center. Just as a power play for the Bears expired, Henrik Rybinski freed the puck in the slot from the defense. He slid the biscuit to Pierrick Dubé alone on the other side of the net in scoring position for his 27th goal of the season. Dubé has long exceeded his previous best in terms of goals but is closing in on hitting 30 before the season’s end.
It was a bit of an odd game for Shepard, who faced a light volume of shots throughout the contest. Five of his 19 stops happened in a single flurry in the first period, causing him to go long stretches with few pucks hitting him. Tuesday’s game is a different sort of test for the league’s leading goaltender, but Shepard once again passed with flying colors.
“It was a tough game for him to play in,” Nelson said. “It’s hard for a goalie to stay sharp, we gave up some quality chances against and he was there for us. Good on him, he was mentally sound and played a great game for us.”
Iowa Bound
“Tomorrow is going to be a long day,” Nelson said. “We’re flying out of Baltimore tomorrow, 4:30 bus tomorrow morning is going to be pretty early. We’re going out there two days ahead of time to get acclimated, practice there on Thursday and get ready for two games. It’s nice when we get back, we have a bit of time to rest up. Our sights are set on Iowa right now.”
The Hershey Bears make their first-ever trip to Iowa to take on the Wild this weekend. The Wild have been the only opponent hailing from the Western Conference for the Bears in the regular season. Back in November, the Wild paid a visit to the Sweetest Place on Earth for a pair of games. Hershey took both games by 2-1 final scores and look to make their first trip a successful one. Iowa is hanging around in the playoff race but is rapidly running out of room as spots are claimed in the Central Division.
The two teams will square off on Friday night in an 8:00 PM EST start time, followed by a rematch on Saturday at 7:00 PM EST.
