Bears Fall to Bridgeport 2-1

Photo: Tori Hartman

The Hershey Bears (0-2) fell to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2-1 Sunday evening at Giant Center. After a scoreless opening frame, the Sound Tigers would strike midway through the second period with a power play goal from former Bear Chris Bourque, making it 1-0. Michael Sgarbossa would tie the game with a break away goal later in the period to make it 1-1 at the second intermission. The Sound Tigers would regain the lead early in the final frame with another power play goal and hold on for the 2-1 win.

The Bears now hit the road for the next seven games, with their first stop in Grand Rapids to face the Griffins this Friday. The Bears next home game is not until Saturday, October 27 when they host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. (Schedule here).

STARTERS
Vitek Vanecek got the start in goal for the Bears. Jeremy Smith started between the pipes for Bridgeport. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the hometown Bears:

FIRST PERIOD
The opening frame would go scoreless, with each side going 0 for 1 on the man-advantage. Both goaltenders looked fairly sharp from the start of this contest.

The Bears best scoring opportunity came on a forced neutral zone turnover, which was coralled by Shane Gersich, who made a dazzling behind the back pass, while falling down, to Liam O’Brien, who had a clear path to the goal, but the play was called for off sides.

The Sound Tigers outshot the Bears 13-10 for the first 20 minutes of play.

SECOND PERIOD
The Bears started the second period with a near break-away by Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who was held, giving way to the Bears second power play of the game. But the power play was rather disjointed, with the Sound Tigers having two break aways, one of them 2 on none, but the Bears escaped unscathed.

The Sound Tigers would go to a 5-on-3 power play at the 14:00 mark and Bridgeport would capitalize, as former Bear Chris Bourque would pot a shot from the top of the slot at 6:56 of the middle frame, to give the Sound Tigers a 1-0 lead.

The Bears would tie the game on a break away goal by Michael Sgarbossa with 6:08 left in the middle frame. This was Sgarboosa’s second goal in as many games. Shane Gersich and Aaron Ness were credited with the helpers. This was Gersich’s first AHL point.

SGARBOSSA SNIPE! #HBH #DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/79LQzu2z42

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) October 7, 2018

The second period would end in a 1-1 tie. The Sound Tigers outshot the Bears 5-4 in the middle frame, and led 18-14 after 40 minutes of play. The Bears were 0 for 3 and Bridgeport 1 for 4 on the man advantage through two periods of play.

THIRD PERIOD
The Sound Tigers would regain the lead on another power play goal. This time Steve Bernier would get the tally, cleaning up loose change in front of Vanecek at 16:04 of the final frame.

And that would be the final. The Bears outshot Bridgeport 7-4 in the final period, and the Sound Tigers led 22-21 for the game.

SHAVINGS