Photo: Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography
The Hershey Bears downed the Belleville Senators, 4-2, Saturday night at the CAA Arena in Belleville, Ontario. Ethen Frank scored twice, Beck Malenstyn added a shorthanded goal and Garrett Pilon sniped his 5th of the season, all in the third period, for the comeback win. The Bears record improves to 26-8-4-1 (57 points) on the season.
LINEUP
Hunter Shepard (10-1-3-1, 2.13 GAA, .919 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Bears. Kevin Mandloese (3-5-2-0, 3.68 GAA, .873 sv%) got the start in goal for the Senators. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mike Vecchione –Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Joe Snively – Connor McMichael – Henrik Borgstrom
Mason Morelli – Hendrix Lapierre –Garrett Pilon
Beck Malenstyn – Henry Rybinski – Matt Strome
Aaron Ness – Lucas Johansen
Gabriel Carlsson – Dylan McIlrath
Bobby Nardella – Vinny Iorio
Scratches: Sam Anas (abdominal surgery, out indefinitely), Kale Kessy (upper body injury), Jake Massie, Julian Napravnik, Logan Day, Riley Sutter and Shane Gersich.
Recalls/Re-assignments: The Capitals recalled Aliaksei Protas from Hershey on Tuesday.
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears and Senators skated to a scoreless draw in the first frame. Belleville held the edge in shots, 8-7 in the first period. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Belleville 0 for 1 on the power play in the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
The Senators opened the scoring early in the middle frame. Scott Sabourin (13) deflected a shot from the top of the slot for the the game’s first tally just 29 seconds into the period. Dillon Heatherington (5) and Cole Cassels (15) had the helpers.
Belleville opens the scoring early in the middle frame. Scott Sabourin (13) deflected a shot from the top of the slot for the score. Dillon Heatherington (5) and Cole Cassels (15) had the helpers. pic.twitter.com/7MHdqtw24O
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 22, 2023
Belleville stretched their lead to 2-0 late in the second period. Viktor Lodin (6) netted a power play tally at 15:31. Egor Sokolov (26) and Jake Lucchini (18) had the assists.
A Lodin laser 💥#ForTheB https://t.co/X0V8OfKUNM pic.twitter.com/E9TbTgf0Gq
— Belleville Senators (@BellevilleSens) January 22, 2023
The second period concluded with the Senators holding a 2-0 lead. The Bears led in shots 14-11 in the middle frame and led 21-19 after 40 minutes. Hershey was 0 for 6 on the power play and Belleville 1 for 3 on the power play after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears finally got on the scoreboard early in the final frame. Ethen Frank (17) blasted a power play goal to make it 2-1 at 5:04. Mike Sgarbossa (21) and Connor McMichael (7) had the helpers.
Frank The Tank! Ethen Frank with a ppg, cuts Senators lead to one. It’s his team-leading 17th goal of the season. #ALLCAPS #HBH pic.twitter.com/S2Qc8l0Qi9
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 22, 2023
The Bears tied the game five minutes later on a shorthanded goal from Beck Malenstyn (3) at 9:06. Gabriel Carlsson (8) and Henrik Rybinski (7) with the helpers.
“Wreck It” Beck Malenstyn with a shorthanded goal and we are tied! #ALLCAPS #HBH pic.twitter.com/u6ycnPQwRF
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 22, 2023
The Bears took their first lead of the game when Hendrix Lapierre caused a turnover in the Senators zone, then fed the puck to Garrett Pilon (5) for the go-ahead tally at 13:37.
Hendrix Lapierre with the theft behind the goal, then finds Garrett Pilon for the snipe. Bears lead 3-2. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/PX7oQHHQdP
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 22, 2023
The Bears would add an empty net goal by Ethen Frank for the 4-2 final.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 2,099
- This was Todd Nelson’s 600th AHL game.
Clay Stevenson stopped 33 of 35 shots as the Rays beat Atlanta 4-2. Martin Has got two assists and Carter Turnball upped his league leading goal total to 23 in 34 games.
No points for Bear Hughes tonight but I should note his important role in Rays faceoffs.
Damn, good game for Clay. Love to see it. Maybe Has is heating up (Finally). He’s a talented kid.
Rays have had a lot of injuries to their forwards and goals and assists have had a bigger spread among players this weekend so I think Has is getting more opportunities to step up and be more offensive. In a good sense.
I like the part where there were 2 pucks on the ice. Don’t recall ever seeing that before. Are they trying to make hockey more like pinball, with multiball, or multipuck? Or maybe this is an experiment to increase offense, with two pucks? Perhaps they’ll vote on it at the next BOG meeting.
What? I missed that. Which goal?
Now that is innovative. What a way to boost offenses. If they keep that up I might have to re-subscribe to AHLtv.
Ha! That’s a whole other sport. 😂
Late in the 3rd. Shepard made a save, and apparently a puck that had been lodged in his equipment, perhaps from warm-ups, popped out. It was pretty funny. I think I was on the Belleville feed at that time
I need to review the 3rd. I gotta see that.
13:42 of the 2nd, actually. Shepard makes a glove save, and a mystery puck appears in the net.
I still think it’s an experimental gimmick to increase offense. Ovi will pass Gretzky quicker, if he has two pucks to shoot.
Got it! And I think I know where it came from. Watch first part of video, shot goes into the net.
Maybe try it first to make OT more exciting.
You can only use two pucks if you say “Mother, may I?” while standing on one foot, and flapping your arms like a chicken. Can’t make it too easy.
Kuzy, of course, will lead the league in this department. He’s got the flapping wings down cold.
Former Caps for the Jets on Sunday: