The Hershey Bears returned to action for a rematch against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Giant Center. Hershey got some belated Christmas gifts in the form of good health for key scorers. It took extra time to determine a winner, but Ethen Frank’s 20th goal of the season made the difference in a 3-2 final score. The win snaps a three-game winless skid for the Bears against their division foe. Hunter Shepard made 23 saves in the win.
Healthy Bears
The Bears got some good news in the form of healthy players. Mike Sgarbossa and Pierrick Dubé added some much-needed offensive firepower to the lineup, missing from the last matchup. Henrik Rybinski returned from his first NHL recall a week ago to further bolster the team’s offense. Ethan Bear skated after missing Sunday’s game with injury. Unfortunately, the team was without the services of Riley Sutter due to injury as well as Zac Funk to illness. The late additions served as some good news.
Both Sgarbossa and Dubé proved to be essential, as both players tallied goals for the Chocolate and White. Sgarbossa got the scoring started with his third of the season late in the first period. He took an excellent bank pass from Chase Priskie and beat Joel Blomqvist with a wicked wrister. The helper is Priskie’s 100th professional assist and broke a scoreless skid for the Bears.
Wilkes-Barre responded to each of Hershey’s goals. Avery Hayes tapped in a loose puck for his sixth of the season as the lone tally of the second period. The Bears pulled ahead in the third period with a snipe from Dubé, but the Penguins got a goal from Ville Koivunen to answer. The back-and-forth affair required extra time in a playoff-like atmosphere.
Frankly Speaking
In the extra session, the three Hershey skaters combined for the decisive goal. Ethan Bear and Spencer Smallman tied the puck up along the wall, negating the Wilkes-Barre skaters. Smallman was able to push the puck forward to Ethen Frank, who broke away from the pack. He’d lift the puck past Blomqvist on the backhand for his 20th goal of the season.
With the win, Bears head coach Todd Nelson pass John Anderson for sole possession of sixth place all-time in AHL head coaching wins. The milestone means a little extra for Nelson as the two guided the Chicago Wolves to the Calder Cup in 2008. It’s Nelson’s latest achievement behind the bench for the Bears.
“It means a lot because I respect Johnny a lot,” Nelson said. “I worked with him for four years and won a championship together. He’s a tremendous coach, looking at his pedigree, he’s a winner. Johnny taught me a lot about the creativity of the game as a forward, I was a defenseman. Before I met Johnny, I was pretty rigid as a coach. I didn’t make many adjustments; he taught me not to be afraid to adjust on the fly.”
“It’s an honor to jump by Johnny, I’m sure I’ll let him know about it.”
Battling Bears
The win breaks a three-game winless streak, all on home ice. Hershey won just one of their last five games, one of their toughest stretches since Nelson took over behind the bench. It’s no coincidence this stretch started when players like Sgarbossa and Dubé got hurt. Their scoring ability helped the Bears to overtime and eventually to the win.
“It feels really good,” Nelson said. “Adding key offensive guys to the lineup is certainly going to help. It gives us more options offensively and on the power play as well. The game was a playoff style game tonight, they have a lot of skill over there but play stingy hockey.”
“We really needed this one. It’s a big win for our confidence, too. You can tell we’re a bit fragile; goals aren’t coming like they normally do. It was a big win for us in many different ways.”
The Bears earn two points and stay ahead of a competitive Atlantic Division. Hershey’s struggles, combined with other teams playing games to catch up, has narrowed the points race. Wilkes-Barre and Charlotte have games in-hand on Hershey and are catching up. Providence moved into second place in the division with four fewer points than Hershey with no games in-hand. It’s early to talk about playoff positions, but the top two spots do earn first-round byes.
Playing Chess or Playing the Checkers
Hershey is set to conclude the calendar year 2024 with a home game against the Charlotte Checkers. Charlotte has taken both of the previous matchups but suffered a setback against Lehigh Valley on Saturday. It’s a chance to avenge a tough loss in the head-to-head matchup two weeks ago while denying the Checkers points.
Those matchups won’t get any easier as the Bears will host the Providence Bruins for a pair of big games next weekend. The latter of the two games is Hershey’s world-famous Teddy Bear Toss. Hershey’s first road swing of 2025 will be in Charlotte, making for quite a gauntlet of important division games.
