Photo: Lehigh Valley Phantoms
The Hershey Bears beat the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 2-1 Friday night at PPL Center in Allentown. Matt Moulson would pot the game’s first goal early in the first frame and Joe Snively would score his 6th of the season in the second period to lead the Bears to the victory. The win snapped a seven-game road losing streak and improved the Bears record to 10-9-2-3 (25 points) on the season. The Bears are back in action on Saturday when they host the same Lehigh Valley Phantoms at Giant Center. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM.
STARTERS
Vitek Vanecek (4-4-1-0, 2.84 GAA, .885 sv%) started between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Alex Lyon (6-5-2-0, 2.35 GAA, .918 sv%) started in goal for the Phantoms. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Lineup for 12/6/2019 at Lehigh Valley ⬇️ #HBH pic.twitter.com/Et3etgYuAL
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 6, 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. Connor Hobbs, Riley Sutter, Kale Kessy and Chris McCarthy were the healthy scratches.
Tobias Geisser was re-assigned to EV Zug in the Swiss league on Thursday. (More here).
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears broke the seal on the scoring with a goal from Matt Moulson (6) at 5:50 of the first frame. Philippe Maillet (4) and Liam O’Brien (6) had the helpers.
Matt Moulson gives Bears a 1-0 lead at 5:50 of first period. pic.twitter.com/xhI3TTmB2c
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 7, 2019
The Phantoms would tie the game late in the first frame with a tally from Andy Welinski (5) at 18:41 of the opening frame. David Kase (3) and Mark Friedman (7) had the assists.
David Kase gets credit for his fourth of the year to tie the game up near the end of the first period. #LVPhantoms pic.twitter.com/UuTAjfAtbu
— LehighValleyPhantoms (@LVPhantoms) December 7, 2019
The first period would end with the game tied 1-1. Shots on goal were 13-12 in favor of the Bears for the first 20 minutes. Lehigh Valley was 0 for 2 and the Hershey Bears 0 for 0 on the power play in the first frame.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears had their first power play of the game early in the middle frame, but were unable to convert. The Bears entered the game with the AHL’s worst power play conversion rate of 9.3%.
The Bears dominated possession in the early stages of the second frame, leading in shots on goal 10-1 at the 8:00 mark.
The Bears would re-take the lead with a goal from Joe Snively (6) at 14:11 of the middle frame, making it 2-1. Mike Sgarbossa (12) and Garret Pilon (8) had the assists. The goal was Snively’s 5th in the last six games. Snively is third among all Bears in goals scored, leads the rookies in goals scored, and is second in rookie points.
#CapsProspect Joe Snively does it again! His 6th goal of the season gives Bears a 2-1 lead in 2nd period. pic.twitter.com/StKbowVmyM
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 7, 2019
The Bears would kill a 5-on-3 Phantoms power play late in the middle frame, maintaining the Bears 2-1 lead.
The second period would end with the Bears leading 2-1. The Bears led in shots on goal 16-9 for the middle frame. The Bears were 0 for 1 and the Phantoms 0 for 4 on the power play after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears would kill another Phantoms power play four minutes into the final frame after a severe hit by Beck Malenstyn was deemed as “checking to the head”.
The Bears applied more of a shutdown style of game in the second half of the final frame, and would hold the Phantoms to just five shots on goal in the third period.
The Nears would hold on for the 2-1 win.
SHAVINGS
- Attendance: 6,745
- The AHL box score is here.
- Bears led in shots on goal 37-26.
- Vitek Vanecek stopped 25 of 26 for .962 game save percentage.
- Alex Alexeyev and Matt Moulson led the Bears in shots with 5 each.
- Stars of the game: 1) Joe Snively, 2) Andy Welinski and 3) Matt Moulson.
- The Bears were 0 for 2 and the Phantoms 0 for 5 on the power play.
- The Bears entered the game with the AHL’s worst power play conversion rate at 9.3%.
- Bears snap seven game road losing streak.
- The Bears are 3-4-1-2 in the last 10 games.
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