Photo: Providence Bruins

The Hershey Bears fell to the Providence Bruins 4-3 in overtime Saturday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The loss drops the Bears record to 32-22-2-4 (70 points) on the season. The loss also drops the Bears to 4th place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the Providence Bruins. The Bears wrap-up their three-game weekend-set on Sunday when they visit the Wolf Pack in Hartford. Puck drop is set for 3:00 PM.

SUMMARY
The Bruins opened the scoring with a goal midway through the opening frame for a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. Riley Barber would tie the game with a 6-on-5 goal 1:30 into the second period. The Bruins would retake the lead midway through the period, but the Bears would tie it late in the period with Riley Barber’s second goal of the game, making it 2-2 at the second intermission. The Bears would take a 3-2 lead with a goal from Jayson Megna but the Bruins would answer with a power play goal from former Bears Paul Carey to tie the game 3-3. Paul Carey would win it for the Bruins 12 seconds into overtime.

STARTERS
Ilya Samsonov (15-12-1-2, 2.78 GAA, .893 sv%) started between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Dan Vladar (8-12-4-2, 2.74 GAA, .902 sv%) got the start in goal for the P-Bruins. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

Smith-Pelly – Sgarbossa – Barber
Gersich– Megna – Walker
O’Brien – Pilon – Malenstyn
Kammerer – Pinho – Whitney

Lewington – Ness
Johansen – Sproul
Siegenthaler – Hobbs

Scratches: Kris Bindulis (upper body) and Joey Leach (wrist injury) were the injury scratches. Colby Williams, Tobias Geisser, Hampus Gustufsson, Juuso Ikonen and Mason Mitchell were the healthy scratches.

FIRST PERIOD
The Bruins would open the scoring with a strange goal. After a failed clear by Devante Smith-Pelly, the Bruins fired a shot from the top of the right circle, which was deflected up into the air and landed behind Ilya Samsonov for the goal. The tally was credited to Trent Frederic at 9:51 of the opening frame.

That would be the lone goal of the period. The P-Bruins outshot the Bears 12-4 in the first period. Both teams were 0 for 1 on the power play.

SECOND PERIOD
The Bears would tie the game early in the middle frame with a 6-on-5 goal by Riley Barber at 1:30 of the second period. The goal was Barber’s 28th of the season. Liam O’Brien (12) and Jayson Megna (15) were credited with the helpers.

Bears’ head coach Spencer Carbery began to modify the top-six line assignments midway through the period, returning Liam O’Brian to the top line, and moving Smith-Pelly to the second line.

The Bruins would retake the lead on a late power play goal from Urho Vaakanainen at 14:58 of the second period.

The Bears would tie the game late in the middle frame with a break away goal from Riley Barber at 16:45, his second of the game. Aaron Ness (39) and Garrett Pilon (19) were credited with the assists.

The second period would end with the game tied 2-2. The Bruins outshot the Bears 12-11 in the second period, and 24-15 after 40 minutes of play. The Bears were 0 for 2 and the Bruins 1 for 3 on the power play after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD
The Bears would take a 3-2 lead with a goal from Jayson Megna at 9:05 of the final frame. Devante Smith-Pelly (4) and Nathan Walker (12) were credited with the helpers.

The Bruins would tie the game with a power play goal from former Hershey Bear Paul Carey at 7:07 of the final frame.

Following the ensuing faceoff, Mike Sgarbossa and Trent Frederic would drop the gloves.

Regulation would end with the game tied 3-3.

OVERTIME
The Bruins would win it 12 seconds into overtime with a goal from Paul Carey.

SHAVINGS

• Bruins outshot the Bears 24-22 for the game.
• Riley Barber and Devante Smith-Pelly led the Bears with 4 shots each.
• Ilya Samsonov stopped 30 of 34 shots for a .882 game save percentage.
• The Bears were 0 for 2 and the Bruins 2 for 6 on the power play.
• Attendance: 7,657
• The AHL box score is here.

HIGHLIGHTS