Bears Toss Wolf Pack 4-3 (OT); Brett Leason Scores Game Winner, Christian Djoos Scores ‘Teddy Bear Goal’; Shane Gersich and Beck Malenstyn Also Score

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

The Hershey Bears beat the Hartford Wolf Pack 4-3 (OT) Sunday night at Giant Center. The win improves the Bears record to 9-9-2-3 (23 points) on the season. The Bears are back in action on Friday when they visit the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Allentown. Puck drop is set for 7:05 PM.

STARTERS
Pheonix Copley (4-5-4-1, 2.72 GAA, .894 sv%) started between the pipes for the Bears. Adam Huska (4-1-3-0, 2.54 GAA, .909 sv%) started in goal for the visiting Wolf Pack. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

Lineup for 12/1/2019 vs. Hartford ⬇️ #HBH pic.twitter.com/EMaQh4icce

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 1, 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. Beck Malenstyn and Christian Djoos were returned to Hershey today. Kody Clark was loaned to Hershey after coming off of the “season opening injured reserve” list last Friday.

FIRST PERIOD
The Bears struck first with a goal from Christian Djoos at 8:11 of the first period. The goal also initiated the bears annual teddy bear toss. Joe Snively (3) and Mike Sgarbossa (11) with the assists.

More of our coverage on the teddy bear toss can be found here.

Play resumed after a 39 minute delay to clean-up the ice.

The Wolf Pack tied the game with a power play goal from Steven Fogarty at 11:35. Fogarty was allowed to split the Bears rookie defenders, Alex Alexeyev and Martin Fehervary, unfettered. Alexeyev and Fehervary were paired together for the first time this season, with Fehervary moving to the right side for this game.

The first period would conclude with the game tied 1-1. Hershey outshot Hartford 12-6 for the first frame. Hartford was 1 for 1 and Hershey 0 for 2 on the power play in the first 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD
Bears Head Coach Spencer Carberry broke-up the second defensive pair of Alexeyev and Fehervary to start the second period.

The Wolf Pack would take their first lead with a power play goal from Vincent Loverde at 7:37 of the second period. This was the Pack’s second power play goal of the game. Hartford entered the game with the AHL’s 30th ranked power play at 9.8%.

The Bears would tie the game with a goal from Shane Gersich at 15:16 of the second period. Liam O’Brien (5) and Brett Leason (3) had the helpers.

The second period concluded with the game tied 2-2. Shots on goal were tied 10-10. Hershey was 0 for 3 and Hartford 2 for 5 on the power play after 40 minutes.

THIRD PERIOD
The Bears would retake the lead with a goal from Beck Malenstyn at 5:08 of the middle frame. Brett Leason (4) and Eddie Whittchow (1) had the assists.

The Wolf Pack would tie the game at 17:57 with a goal from Steven Fogarty, his second goal of the game.

Regulation would end tied 3-3.

OVERTIME
The Bears would win it with a goal from Brett Leason at 2:29 of the extra frame, his first AHL goal.

SHAVINGS

Attendance: 10,014
The AHL box score is here.
Stars: 1) Brett Leason, 2) Steven Fogarty, and 3) Christian Djoos.
Hershey led in shots on goal 27-29 for the game.
Garret Pilon and Martin Fehervary led the Bears in shots with 5 each.
Brett Leason had a goal and two assists.
Christian Djoos had a goal and an assist.
Hartford was 2 for 9 and Hershey 0 for 5 on the power play.
The Bears 0 for 5 on the power now ranks them dead last (31st) in the AHL (9.3%).
The Bears scored the game’s first goal for the 10th time this season.