Photo: Lehigh Valley Phantoms

The Hershey Bears fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 4-1 Friday night at the PPL Center in Allentown. The loss drops the Bears record to 31-27-5-4 (71 points) on the season. The Bears are winless in five games at the PPL Center against the last place Phantoms this season.

Following a scoreless first frame, the Phantoms opened the scoring early in the middle frame before the Bears answered with a power play goal from Mike Vecchione midway through the second period.

Lehigh Valley would add two late tally’s for a 3-1 lead at the second intermission. The Phantoms would add an empty net goal late for the 4-1 win.

STARTERS

The Bears started goaltender Zach Fucale (10-12-4-3, 2.63 GAA, .895 sv%) in net while the Phantoms countered with Felix Sandstrom (0-0-0-0, 0.00 GAA, .000 sv%). The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

Injuries: Brian Pinho (shoulder surgery), Matt Moulson (back surgery), Mike Sgarbossa (upper-body injury), Riley Sutter (upper-body injury).

Scratches: Jake Massie, Macoy Erkamps, Christopher Brown and Clay Stevenson.

SECOND PERIOD

Lehigh Valley finally broke the seal on the scoring with a tally by Isaac Ratcliffe (9) at 5:39 of the middle frame. Hayden Hodgson (12) and Egor Zamula (24) had the helpers.

The Bears would answer with a very rarte power play goal from Mike Vecchione (14) at 11:05 of the middle frame.  Bobby Nardella (14) and Cody Franson (24) had the helpers.

Mike Vecchione with a power play tally against his former team, ties the game 1-1. It’s his 40th point of the season, a career high. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/oLJleic2vY

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) April 9, 2022

But the Phantoms would answer late in the second period with a tally from Wade Allison (9) at 18:35 of the second period. Adam Clendening (31) had the lone assist.

The Phantoms would make it 3-1 on a tally with 34 seconds remaining in the middle frame.  Tanner Laczynski (6) notched the Phantoms third tally, assisted by Cal O’Reilly (28) and Adam Clendening (32)

THIRD PERIOD

The Bears and Phantoms skated to another scoreless draw for most of the final frame. Lehigh Valley would add an empty net goal late to make it 4-1, the final.

The Bears are back in action on Saturday when they host the first game of a weekend set against the Springfield Thunderbird. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM.

SHAVINGS

• AHL box scores
• Attendance: 5,476
• Bears are 0-5 this season at Lehigh Valley.