It was going to be a crowd of nearly 10,000 people at Giant Center on Sunday. However, a Pennsylvania snowstorm reduced that number for a big showdown between the AHL’s two oldest teams. The Hershey Bears and the Rochester Americans met up in a wild, back-and-forth game. In the end, Hershey pulled ahead and locked down a 5-4 decision to pick up two big points. Clay Stevenson made 29 saves to give Hershey their fourth straight game.
Old Rivals
It’s the second time this season that the two teams have tallied a good number of goals against each other. Rochester jumped ahead early with an 11-5 shot advantage as well as the first goal. Vsevolod Komarov tallied before the game was five minutes old for his first AHL goal.
Although the Bears had a low shot count in the first period, one of those shots would result in the tying goal. Calder Cup hero Matt Strome tallied his third goal of the season on the rush. Hershey was able to solve goaltender Michael Houser early in his first AHL action in nearly two months.
Hershey came back with a much better start to the second period but didn’t get the result right away. Rochester took the lead back with Zachary Metsa’s third goal of the season in a multi-point night for him. It’d take a little for Hershey to break through, but they’d convert on the only power play awarded on this night. Chase Priskie took advantage of the goaltender losing his balance for his seventh of the year. Six of those tallies have come on the power play to send the teams to the third even at two.
Bears Trade Punches
Hershey pulled ahead early in the third when Ivan Miroshnichenko guided a rebound of a shot by Jon McDonald in the net. It’s Miroshnichenko’s first goal since returning from a stint in Washington. It seemed like leads lasted only about as long as the ban of Tiktok in this game as Rochester tied the game a minute later. Aleksandr Kisakov got credit for a sharp angle shot that sat on the skate of Stevenson. It was ruled that Stevenson drew the puck back and over the goal line, a call that evened the score at three.
The tie would not hold for very long. Hershey’s fourth line helped find McDonald, who scored his first AHL goal on the rush. He jumped in and took a pass from Brennan Saulnier in stride, beating Houser to put the Bears back ahead.
“He’s a really good skater, very mobile,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said of McDonald. “Offensively, he knows how to find holes on the ice and that’s how he scored his goal. He jumped up into the play and created the odd-man rush. He keeps his game simple and that’s how he’s effective.”
The Bears got the decisive goal courtesy of another role player. Grant Cruikshank blocked a shot at the point, spiking the puck the other way for a breakaway. He scored his fourth goal of the season as that line factored in on three of Hershey’s five goals on this night. Cruikshank stepped into Riley Sutter’s role after the veteran forward went down with injury.
“It was a seamless transition,” Nelson said of Cruikshank. “He’s been doing a great job for us in fulfilling a role that (Sutter) had. It’s a blue-collar line; he kills penalties for us. He’s earned that position from playing the way he does. We love his character in the room and he’s loud on the bench. He’s played well.”
Banking Points
Hershey had to hang on when Rochester cut the lead to one goal with plenty of time to find the tie. Stevenson and the defense held strong against a lot of shots from the Americans to lock in a 5-4 win. The win moves Hershey to 25-11-3-0 on the season, good for 53 points. They have a lead of seven points on second place Providence. Hershey adds another key pair of points in a strong recent stretch.
“I thought we got off to a slow start tonight,” Nelson said. “We got some big efforts, some big blocks. As the game went on, we got better. Our guys did a good job of blocking shots and paying a price to get the puck out. That’s what got us the two points tonight.”
“Those two games against Providence sparked us a bit. It got the competitiveness going with our hockey team. We had a setback against Lehigh but went to Charlotte and played strong in that building. We’re trending in the right direction. Tonight, the score probably shouldn’t have been as close as it was.”
The Bears continue a test against several tough teams from the North Division. They’ll take on the Laval Rocket north of the border before a pair in Belleville against the Senators. Hershey took a matchup against Belleville on Friday in a game with potential to be a rivalry.
