Photo: Tori Hartman
The Hershey Bears beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2-1 Saturday night in Hershey. Jonas Siegenthaler would start the scoring with his sixth goal of the season in the first period to give the Bears a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. Mathias Bau would stretch the Bears lead to 2-0 at the second intermission. The Sound Tigers would quickly cut the Bears lead in half early in the final frame, but the Bears would lock it down for the 2-1 win. The Bears will conclude their 2017-2018 season Sunday evening when they host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Giant Center. Puck drop is 5:00 p.m.
Prior to the game, the Bears and Sound Tigers took part in a pregame ceremony to honor the Humboldt Broncos hockey team. More on the ceremony here.
STARTERS
Vitek Vanecek (11-12-2, 3.12 GAA, .896 sv%) started in goal for the Bears. Kristers Gudlevskis (12-15-5, 2.43 GAA, .906 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Sound Tigers. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Forwards:
Whitney-Walker-Bourque
Gazley-Langlois-Simpson
O’Brien-Graovac-Bau
Sill-Gustafsson-Mitchell
Defensive pairs
Ness-Johansen
Siegenthaler-Williams
Bindulis-Hobbs
Scratches – Riley Barber, Tyler Lewington, Anthony Peluso and Adam Chapie
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears got things started with a goal from Jonas Siegenthaler at 4:51 of the opening frame. Siegenthaler gathered a loose puck in the Sound Tigers end and quickly fired it on goal for the first tally. the goal was unassisted.
That would be the only scoring in the opening frame. The Bears outshot the Sound Tigers 8-5 for the first 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears would stretch their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Mathias Bau at 15:08 of the middle frame. Tyler Graovac was credited with the lone assist.
The period would end with the Bears leading 2-0. The Bears outshot the Sound Tigers 12-4 for the middle frame, and led 20-9 after two periods of play.
THIRD PERIOD
The Sound Tigers would cut the Bears lead to one with a tally from Casey Bailey at 5:17 of the final frame, but the Bears would lock it down for the 2-1 win.
Game highlights:
Troy Mann’s postgame press conference:
SHAVINGS
- Vitek Vanecek stopped 17 of 18 shots for a .944 save percentage.
- Bears outshot the Sound Tigers 25-18.
- Both teams were 0 for 5 on the man advantage.
- Attendance: 10,039
- AHL box score is here.
SCENES FROM HERSHEY