The Hershey Bears were down against their rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after two periods of play. It didn’t look particularly good for the Chocolate and White with only a handful of shots on goal. Much as they did last Sunday, the Bears used a big third period to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 victory. Bears forward Luke Philp had a point on all four goals in the win. Clay Stevenson earned the win with 27 saves.
All Around Me Are Missing Faces
Friday’s lineup is a far cry from what the two teams would likely dress in the postseason. The Penguins missed key players like Emil Bemstrom, Vasily Ponomarev, Valterri Puustinen, Ville Koivunen, and Rutger McGroarty. All of those players are on recall to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL, with McGroarty out for the season with injury. Meanwhile, Hershey missed Ethan Bear, Pierrick Dubé, Jake Massie, and Mike Sgarbossa.
It’s safe to say that the lineup in the Calder Cup Playoffs would be vastly different for both teams. The Bears fell behind with just ten shots on goal through two periods. Wilkes-Barre got goals in each of those periods to take a 2-0 lead into the final frame. Mathieu de St. Phalle and Tristan Broz had the goals for the Penguins.
The game was a big one for both sides. Wilkes-Barre fell behind in the Atlantic Division race and looked to get back in the conversation for a playoff bye. A win for Hershey would secure a bye from the first round of the playoffs. The winner of the game would also take the lead in the regular season series with one more matchup at Giant Center.
Philp’s Heater
Hershey struck just 15 seconds into the third period. Philp picked off a pass inside the offensive zone and made a swift drop pass to Garrett Roe. Roe’s shot skipped off the pads of Sergei Murashov and right back to Philp. Although Philp missed his chance, Roe stayed with it and scored his fourth goal of the season.
The Bears got a power play and evened the game not even two minutes later. Philp was able to find a seam and rip a shot though a double screen, with no chance for the netminder. Roe had a multi-point game with the secondary assist in a big night for Hershey’s top line.
The eventual game-winner went in off the stick of Mike Vecchione with four minutes remaining. Chase Priskie put a perfect pass to the tape of Vecchione for a tap-in. The goal is Vecchione’s 19th of the campaign and put the Bears in front for the first time. Philp finished the game with an empty net goal with the puck seemingly finding him.
“We had a more direct approach (in the third period),” Philp said. “We weren’t creating enough offensively and fed their transition with our turnovers. Once we stopped doing that, it all turned around.”
“If you do things the right way, you can get bounces. Our line especially on the power play played it pretty simple, directing pucks at the net and we got rewarded.”
Bye, First Round
With the win, the Bears secured a bye from the play-in, best-of-three series. Hershey’s magic number to clinch the Atlantic Division dropped to four with the win. The Bears kept pace with the Laval Rocket to stay two points behind them for the AHL lead. Hershey extends their win streak to four in a row with Friday’s decision.
Hershey wraps up the road portion of the 2024-25 season on Saturday night in Allentown. The Bears take on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in another tough division opponent. It’s expected that Garin Bjorklund will be between the pipes for his third AHL start with Hunter Shepard still in Washington.
