Photo: JustSports/Hershey Bears

The Hershey Bears fell to the Milwaukee Admirals 3-1 Sunday evening at Giant Center in Hershey. The loss drops the Bears record to 15-19-0-2 on the season. The Bears return to action Friday night when they visit the Thunderbirds in Springfield, Massachusetts. Puck drop is set for 7:05 PM ET. 

The Bears would start the scoring with a power play goal from Nathan Walker, but the Admirals would answer late in the opening frame for a 1-1 tie at the first intermission. Milwaukee would add two goals midway through the middle frame for a 3-1 lead at the second intermission. The final frame would go scoreless.

STARTERS
Ilya Samsonov (5-10-0, 3.88 GAA, .863 sv%) started in goal for the Bears. Tom McCollum (7-6-5-2, 2.84 GAA, .893 sv%) started between the pipes for the visiting Admirals. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

O’Brien – Sgarbossa – Barber
Walker – Megna – Whitney
Gersich – Pilon – Malenstyn
Ikonen– Gustafsson – Pinho

Ness – Lewington
Leach – Williams
Johnson – Sproul

Scratches: Lucas Johansen (upper body), Connor Hobbs (upper body), Kris Bindulis (upper body) and Tobias Geisser (upper body) were the injury scratches. Cliff Watson, Mason Mitchell, and Max Kammerer were healthy scratches.

FIRST PERIOD
The Bears would strike first with a power play goal from Nathan Walker at 15:26 of the opening frame. Walker would deflect a shot from the point by Aaron Ness. Aaron Ness (20) and Riley Barber (15) were credited with the helpers.

The Admirals would tie the game late in the first frame with a power play goal from Anthony Richard at 18:58 of the first period.

The first period would end with the game tied 1-1. The shots on goal were tied 6-6. Both teams were 1 for 2 on the power play.

SECOND PERIOD
The Admirals would take their first lead of the game with a goal from Zach Magwood at 7:41 of the second frame.

The Admirals would stretch their lead to 3-1 with a goal from Jarred Tinordi at 8:42 of the second period.

The second period would end with the Admirals holding on to a 3-1 lead. Bears led in shots on goal 7-5, and 13-11 after 40 minutes of play. The Admirals were 1 for 2 and the Bears 1 for 3 on the man-advantage after 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD
The Bears and Admirals skated to a scoreless final frame. The Bears outshot the Admirals 10-7 in the final period.

SHAVINGS

• Bears outshot the Admirals 23-18.
• Ilya Samsonov stopped 15 of 18 shots for a .833 save percentage.
• The Admirals were 1 for 3 and the Bears 1 for 5 on the power play.
• Shane Gersich led the Bears in shots with 4.
• Attendance: 7,787
• The AHL box score is here.

HIGHLIGHTS

By Jon Sorensen
Follow @NoVa_Caps

SCENES FROM HERSHEY

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There’s been a disturbance in the force… Go Bears! 🍫🐻 #StarWarsNight #HersheyBears #DefendTheDen

A post shared by Delaney Sanderson (@really.delaney) on Jan 6, 2019 at 3:02pm PST

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I'm one with the Force. The Force is with me. #StarWarsNight #HBH

A post shared by Hershey Bears (@thehersheybears) on Jan 6, 2019 at 10:52am PST