Photo: Brian Beakes/NoVa Caps
The Hershey Bears downed the Cleveland Monsters, 3-2, Saturday night at the Giant Center in Hershey. Sam Anas scored his 7th goal of the season and netminder Clay Stevenson stopped 25 of 27 shots faced in his AHL debut for the win. With the victory the Bears record improves to 17-5-2-0 (36 points) on the season.
HERSHEY BEARS LINEUP
Clay Stevenson (0-0-0, .000 sv%, 0.00 GAA) got the start in goal for the Bears. It was his first career AHL start. Danil Tarasov (2-1-0 .840 sv%, 4.73 GAA) got the start between the pipes for the Monsters. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mike Vecchione –Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Mason Morelli – Connor McMichael – Sam Anas
Shane Gersich – Hendrix Lapierre – Henrik Rybinski
Kale Kessy – Riley Sutter – Matthew Strome
Aaron Ness – Logan Day
Gabriel Carlsson – Bobby Nardella
Jake Massie – Vinny Iorio
Scratches: Dylan McIlrath and Lucas Johansen (not available to the team), Garrett Pilon (lower body injury), Henrik Borgstrom (upper body injury), Julian Napravnik, Logan Day and Michael Kim.
Hunter Shepard was officially recalled by the Capitals on Monday. The Bears recalled Clay Stevenson from ECHL South Carolina on Monday.
The Hershey Bears announced on Saturday that they had recalled Michael Kim from ECHL South Carolina
FIRST PERIOD
The Monsters opened the scoring early in the first frame. Trey Fix-Wolansky (11) scored on the power play at 6:11 of the first period, giving the Monsters the early 1-0 lead. Emil Bemstrom (11) and David Jiricek (8) had the helpers.
Trey Fix-Wolansky (11) beats Clay Stevenson on the power play. Monsters lead 1-0. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/fUcn2gl6z5
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 11, 2022
The Bears tied the game on Mike Sgarbossa‘s 7th goal of the season at 8:59 of the first frame. Mason Morelli (13) and Bobby Nardella (10) had the assists.
Mike Sgarbossa ties it 1-1. #HBH pic.twitter.com/09BhgIDoMq
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 11, 2022
The Monsters added a second power play goal late in the period. Josh Dunne (2) beat Stevenson at 17:17 of the opening stanza. Robbie Payne (1) and Samuel Knazko (10) had the assists.
2nd power play marker for the Monsters.
Josh Dunne (2) finishes. Monsters lead 2-1. #HBH pic.twitter.com/cY2EF82kIe— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 11, 2022
But the Bears would answer in the waning seconds of the period. Aaron Ness (1) notched his first goal of the season with 24 seconds left in the period. Jake Massie (2), andMike Sgarbossa (9) had the assists.
Aaron Ness with his first tally of the season, ties the game late in the first period. 2-2 after 20 minutes. #HBH pic.twitter.com/imsVTNfYV1
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 11, 2022
The first period would conclude with the game tied 2-2. Hershey led in shots 11-10 for the first frame. Cleveland was 2 for 2 and Hershey 0 for 1 on the power play in the first 20 minutes.
Defenseman Bobby Nardella sustained an upper body injury late in the first period and did not return to the game.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears and Monsters skated to a scoreless draw in the middle frame.
Cleveland led in shots, 10-9 in the middle period, with shots tied 20-20 after two frames.
The Monsters were 2 for 2 and the Bears 0 for 2 on the power play after 50 minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears took their first lead of the game when Connor McMichael centered a pass to Sam Anas (7) at 8:47 of the final frame. Mason Morelli (14) and Connor McMichael (3) had the helpers.
Connor McMichael to Sam Anas and Bears lead 3-2 midway through the final frame. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/d1a78vaV0p
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 11, 2022
The Bears held on for the 3-2 win. It was their third consecutive win and 8th win in the last nine games.
The Bears are back in action on Sunday for the second game with the Monsters. Puck drop at Giant Center is set for 5PM.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 8,877
- Clay Stevenson stopped 25 of 27 for a .926 save percentage.
- Stars of the game: 1) Mason Morelli, 2) Sam Anas and 3) Aaron Ness
Bear head for that first AHL win 🐻 pic.twitter.com/jefME4bTjV
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 11, 2022
SCENES FROM CHOCOLATE TOWN
https://www.instagram.com/p/CmAYEIGvPbq/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Is Henrik Bergstrom going be okay
Not a lot on his injury, as far as severity.
Henrik Rybinski had the PK shift of the season so far killing that late penalty. Causes the turnover, gets a shot and then buries the guy trying to skate it out. Just wow.
I thought Gersich also had a heck of a PK.
I really think Rybinski could be our 4RW next with Hathaway on the move. Like Hathaway he is a strong PKer, has some scoring tough, and plays physical. Good opportunity to get younger at that spot.
He was blanketed by 3 Monsters, almost shed them, and still got the shot on goal. Nice.
Clay was sharp. Two goals, neither of which was his fault. First was a blast from the Ovechkin spot by Fix-Wolansky. If that shot is hard and accurate, and it was, its a goal, as Ovi, Stamkos and Laine have shown us a zillion times. And Clay still got a piece of it, and almost made a save he shouldn’t have. The second was a tic-tac-toe passing play.
What I was looking for was how aggressive he was. You can’t teach confidence, and he was out challenging, square to the shooter, and not sitting deep. Showing he’s a good teammate too, by checking on Ness, after the defenseman got spilled into the net.
Early reviews look good!