Photo: Providence Bruins
The Hershey Bears fell to the Providence Bruins, 4-1 Sunday afternoon at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence. The loss drops the Bears record to 25-17-3-3 (56 points) on the season.
Following a scoreless first frame, The Bears struck first with a tally from Mike Vecchione early in the middle frame, but the Bruins would answer with a pair of goals late in the period for a 2-1 lead at the second intermission.
The Bruins would stretch their lead to 3-1 with a power play goal early in the final frame and make it 4-1 midway through the third period. That would be the final. The Bears were out-scored 9-1 in the weekend set against the Bruins.
STARTERS
The visiting Bears started goaltender Zach Fucale (7-7-4-0, 2.95 GAA, .877 sv%) in net, while the Bruins countered with Troy Grosenick (10-3-1-2, 2.28 GAA, .918 sv%) in goal. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Injuries: Garrett Pilon (upper-body injury), Mike Sgarbossa (upper-body injury), Matt Moulson (back surgery) and Bobby Nardella (lower-body injury).
Scratches: Nick Isaacson, Christopher Brown
Released: forward Colby McAuley and defenseman Tariq Hammond from their tryout agreements.
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears and Bruins skated to a scoreless draw in the first period.
Providence led in shots 9-4. Both teams were 0 for 1 on the power play.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears opened the scoring with a tally from Mike Vacchione (12) at 4:33 of the second period. Axel Jonsson-Fjallby (19) had the helper.
The Axe Man does it again! Axel Jonsson-Fjallby’s 16th of the season. Bears lead 1-0. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/QKrHaIMnGR
— Jon Sorensen (@jon_m_sorensen) February 20, 2022
But the Bruins would answer with a pair of goals in the final 90 seconds of the second period. Eduards Tralmaks (9) would score the game-tying tally at 18:35. Samuel Asselin (17) and Justin Brazeau (5) had the helpers.
The Bruins would then take their first lead of the game with two seconds remaining in the middle frame. Zach Senyshyn (14) notched the go-ahead goal at 19:58. He was assisted by Cameron Hughes (19).
The period would end with Providence leading 2-1. The Bruins led in shots 14-9 in the middle frame and 23-13 after two periods. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Providence 0 for 2 on the power play after two periods of play.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bruins would stretch their lead to 3-1 with a power play goal from Jesper Froden (12) at 2:06 of the final frame. Cameron Hughes (20) and Troy Grosenick (1) had the assists.
The Bruins would make it 4-1 with a goal from Jack Ahcan (6) at 9:58 of the final frame. Chris Wagner (6) and Cameron Hughes (21) had the helpers.
The Bears would be the benefactors of a 5-on-3 power play right after the Bruins fourth goal but were unable to capitalize.
The Bruins would hang on for the 4-1 win.
The Bears are back in action on Tuesday when they host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Giant Center. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 9,980
- Hershey led in shots 31-28.
