Screen cap: AHL TV
The Hershey Bears fell to the Charlotte Checkers, 3-1, Saturday night at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA. Capitals forward prospect Hendrix Lapierre scored his 9th goal of the season in the loss. The Bears record drops to 22-8-2-1 (47 points) on the season.
HERSHEY BEARS LINEUP
Zach Fucale (11-6-1-1, 2.50 GAA, .900 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Bears. Alex Lyon (8-8-1-0, 2.64 GAA, .907 sv%) got the start in goal for the Checkers. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mike Vecchione –Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Aliaksei Protas – Connor McMichael – Garrett Pilon
Mason Morelli – Hendrix Lapierre –Henrik Borgstrom
Beck Malenstyn – Riley Sutter – Henrik Rybinski
Gabriel Carlsson – Dylan McIlrath
Aaron Ness – Vincent Iorio
Jake Massie – Bobby Nardella
Scratches: Sam Anas (lower body injury), Lucas Johansen (Covid protocol), Kale Kessy (upper body injury), Shane Gersich, Julian Napravnik, Matthew Strome.
Aliaksei Protas on the ice for the Bears. #ALLCAPS #HBH pic.twitter.com/4uJEsMASpA
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 7, 2023
Recalled/Re-assigned: The Washington Capitals loaned Aliaksei Protas to the Bears on Saturday. Forward Alex Fortin was returned to ECHL South Carolina and forward Kevin O’Neil was released from his professional tryout and returned to South Carolina on Friday.
FIRST PERIOD
The Checkers opened the scoring with a goal from Aleksi Heponiemi (7) at 12:57 of the opening frame. The goal was setup by a turnover by Gabriel Carlsson in the Bears own zone.
Bad turnover by Gabriel Carlsson lead’s to game’s first goal. Checkers lead 1-0, late in the first frame. #HBH pic.twitter.com/W6ICj8ZbwD
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 8, 2023
The Bears tied the game on Hendrix Lapierre‘s 9th goal of the season at 17:30 of the opening frame. Lapierre jumped on the ice for a shift and out-hustled a Checkers player for the puck, firing a shot five-hole for the tally. Aaron Ness (8) had the lone assist.
Hendrix Lapierre jumps on the ice for a shift and out-hustles a Checkers player for his 9th of the season. Game tied 1-1. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9QScfpflr5
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 8, 2023
Another angle of Lapierre’s tally, from the stands.
I had a great view of the goal! pic.twitter.com/ivtWuvbNan
— Collin McCoy (@CDM1424) January 8, 2023
The first period concluded with the game tied, 1-1. Charlotte led in shots 10-8. The Checkers were 0 for 2 and the Bears 0 for 1 on the power play after 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears and Checkers skated to a scoreless draw in the middle frame.
The Bears led in shot, 11-7 in the second period.
Charlotte was 0 for 4 and Hershey 0 for 3 on the power play after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Checkers took a 2-1 lead late in the final frame with a power play goal from Cameron Morrison (2) at 14:16. Santtu Kinnunen (13) and Aleksi Heponiemi (8) had the helpers.
Checkers with a late power play goal take a 2-1 lead with 5:30 left in the final frame. #HBH pic.twitter.com/oy00hr3nro
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 8, 2023
The Checkers added an empty net goal with 1:55 remaining to make it 3-1, and that would be the final
The Bears are back in action on Sunday when they host the Syracuse Crunch at Giant Center. Puck drop is set for 5:00PM.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 9,697
- This was Garrett Pilon’s first game since November 19.