Photo: Caroline O’Connor/Great Save Productions/Hershey Bears

The Belleville Senators downed the Hershey Bears 3-1 Saturday night at Giant Center. The loss dropped the Bears record to 8-9-2-3 (21 points) on the season. The Bears are back in action Sunday evening when they host the Hartford Wolf Pack. Puck drop is set for 5:00 PM.

STARTERS
Vitek Vanecek (4-3-1-0, 2.94 GAA, .886 sv%) started between the pipes for the Bears. Joey Daccord (0-0-0-, 0.00 GAA, .000 sv%) made his first career AHL start in goal for the visiting Senators. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

Lineup for 11/30/2019 vs. Belleville ⬇️ #HBH pic.twitter.com/C2nYbUFSiV

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) November 30, 2019

Scratches: Lucas Johansen (lower body injury, day-to-day), Bobby Nardella (upper body injury, week-to-week), Steve Whitney (upper body injury) and Colby Williams (upper body injury, week-to-week) were the injury scratches. Riley Sutter was scratched due to illness. Kale Kessy, Tobias Geisser and Chris McCarthy were the healthy scratches.

Mike Sgarbossa, Beck Malenstyn, Christian Djoos and Ilya Samsonov were recalled by the Capitals last Wednesday, November 20th. Mike Sgarbossa was returned to Hershey on Sunday, November 24. Kody Clark was loaned to Hershey after coming off of the “season opening injured reserve” list on Friday.

FIRST PERIOD
The Bears opened the scoring with a goal from Eddie Whittchow at 6:20 of the first period. Liam O’Brien (4) and Kody Clark (1) were credited with the helpers. The goal came on Whittchow’s his first shot of the game and first shot as a Hershey Bear. The assist was Clark’s first AHL point, playing in his third AHL game.

The first period would conclude with the game tied 1-0. Hershey outshot the Bears 11-1 for the first frame. The Senators did have several decent scoring chances but the shots were not on goal. Belleview was 0 for 1 on the power play in the first frame. The Bears did not have a power play.

SECOND PERIOD
Liam O’Brien received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a cross-checking to the head of a Belleville player early in the second period. It would cost the Bears two goals.

The Senators would strike in the first minute of the five-minute power play with a goal from Josh Norris at 7:38 of the second period, tying the game 1-1.

Erik Burgdoerfer was called for hooking midway through the five-minute major, giving the Senators a 5-on-3 for nearly two minutes.

Belleville would capitalize on the 5-on-3 opportunity with a goal from Jordan Szwarz at 11:09 of the middle frame. The Senators had just five shots on goal in the game and led 2-1.

The Bears worked their own 5-on-3 power play after a pair of Senators penalties with about seven minutes remaining in the second period, but were unable to convert.

The second period would end with the Senators leading 2-1. Shots on goal were tied 8-8 for the middle frame, with the Bears leading 19-9 after two periods. Belleville was 2 for 5 and Hershey 0 for 2 on the power play after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD
The Bears and Senators would skate to a scoreless draw for a majority of the final frame. The Senators added an empty net goal to make it 3-1.

SHAVINGS

• Attendance: 9,108
• AHL box score is here.
• Bears led in shots on goal 27-16.
• Joe Snively led the Bears in shots with 4.
• The Senators were 2 for 5 and the Bears were 0 for 2 on the power play.
• The Bears have lost four straight games.
• The Bears scored the game’s first goal for the ninth time this season.

SCENES FROM CHOCOLATETOWN

View this post on Instagram

hockey night in hershey 🐻

A post shared by Paul Collett (@pcollett88) on Nov 30, 2019 at 4:21pm PST