Photo: Milwaukee Admirals

Unlike their parent club, the Hershey Bears’ start to the 2018-19 season hasn’t been a great one, as entering Saturday, they were 0-3-0 in their first three games. And after Saturday night’s contest against the Milwaukee Admirals, the Chocalate and White are still searching for their first victory, falling 5-1 in Milwaukee.

1st Period

The opening period did not begin well for the Bears, as defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler sent the puck out of play just 1:55 into the contest for a Delay of Game Penalty that gave the Admirals the game’s first power play The Bears were able to kill it off, but the Admirals would eventually strike under three minutes later, on a goal from center Yakov Trenin, who scored on assists from  Frederic Allard and Rocco Grimaldi for his first of the season. The game would see minute action for several minutes following the goal, until Bears blueliner Tyler Lewington and Milwaukee’s Jeremy Gregoire at the 7:58 mark of the opening frame. The Admirals would take a 2-0 lead on a late power play goal at the 19:09 mark (51 seconds left) from Matt Donovan, who potted his first of the campaign on assists from Gregoire and Allard. The Bears would head into the first intermission down 2-0 despite dominating in the shot department, 11-7.

2nd Period

The second frame would see the Bears receive their first man-advantage of the night after Grimaldi was called for hooking just 4:53 into the period. The Bears, however, would fail to convert on this much-needed opportunity. The game would not see substantial action until the 8:42 mark of the middle frame, when Milwaukee center Tyler Gaudet beat Hershey goaltender Vitek Vanecek for his second of the season, on assists from Trenin and Mathieu Oliver. The Admirals would take a commanding 4-0 lead just under three minutes later on a goal from Eeli Tolvanen, who put his first past Vanecek on an assist from Anthony Richard. The Admirals would strike just 46 seconds later on a goal from Emil Pettersson. Lewington would take a Delay of Game penalty of his own at the 13:00 mark, that the Chocolate and White would manage to kill off. The Bears would leave the first 40 minutes of the game down a whopping 5-0 and in shots 17-16.

3rd Period

The final frame started positively for the Bears, who finally got on the board thanks to a goal from left wing Derek Hulak, who put his first of the season (and in his first AHL game in almost two years) past Admirals netminder Troy Grosenick on assists from Max Kammerer and Connor Hobbs at the 3:53 mark. Lewington would take his third penalty of the game at the 6:03 mark of the third, a penalty the Bears would kill off.

How about that for a return? In his first AHL game since December 3, 2016, Derek Hulak finds the back of the net! #HBH pic.twitter.com/tni9uZbYy2

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) October 14, 2018

Neither team would make another dent on the scoreboard, and the Bears fell to 0-4-0 on the season. The Bears did however, lead the Admirals in shots 23-20.

By Michael Fleetwood