Photo: Charlotte Checkers
The Hershey Bears downed the Charlotte Checkers, 6-3 Saturday evening at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ethen Frank notched his team-leading 22nd goal of the season and Henrik Borgstrom scored his 7th of the season in the win. The victory improves the Bears record to 31-12-5-1 (68 points) on the season.
LINEUP
Zach Fucale (14-9-2-1, 2.56 GAA, .899 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Alex Lyon (11-8-1-0, 2.71 GAA, .903 sv%) got the start in goal for the Checkers. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mike Vecchione –Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Mason Morelli – Connor McMichael – Henrik Borgstrom
Beck Malenstyn – Garrett Pilon – Henrik Rybinski
Shane Gersich – Riley Sutter – Matthew Strome
Gabriel Carlsson – Logan Day
Aaron Ness – Logan Day
Jake Massie – Bobby Nardella
Scratches: Hendrix Lapierre (healthy scratch – more here), Lucas Johansen (illness), Sam Anas (abdominal surgery, out indefinitely), Kale Kessy (upper body injury) and Julian Napravnik.
Recalls and Reassignments: Dylan McIlrath was recalled by the Capitals on Wednesday and returned to the Bears on Saturday. Joe Snively was recalled by the Capitals on Tuesday.
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears opened the scoring with a power play goal from Ethen Frank (22) at 14:11 of the first frame. Mike Vecchione (23) and Mike Sgarbossa (26) provided the assistance.
Frank The Tank! Ethen Frank’s 22nd goal of the season, comes on the power play. Bears lead 1-0.#HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/POOMcKv0f6
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 18, 2023
And that was it for the first frame. Hershey led in shots, 7-6. The Bears were 1 for 2 and Charlotte 0 for 1 on the power play in the first 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears struggles to generate shots resurfaced at the start of the middle frame, with just one shot on goal in the first 14 minutes of the period.
The Checkers tied the game late in the second period on a blast from Logan Hutsko (9). The goal was unassisted at 13:15 of the middle frame.
Not stopping that! 🏹 pic.twitter.com/BIF7SK4U8U
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) February 18, 2023
But the Bears quickly answered on an ensuing power play. Connor McMichael would rifle a shot from the top of the slot which was redirected by Mike Vecchione (12) down low at 15:58. Connor McMichael (12) and Mike Sgarbossa (27) were credited with the assists.
Veccs got juuuuust enough of it for his 15th of the season 🤏
🍎 McMichael
🍏 Sgarbossa pic.twitter.com/AVNMKYrbBt— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) February 18, 2023
That would be it for the middle frame. Charlotte led in shots, 11-6 for the middle frame and 17-13 after two periods. Hershey was 2 for 3 and Charlotte 0 for 2 on the power play after 40 minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears stretched their lead to 3-1 on a goal from Henrik Borgstrom (7) just 2:20 into the final period. Logan Day (10) and Connor McMichael (13) had the assists.
Borgy bags his seventh!
🍎 Day
🍏 McMichael pic.twitter.com/cdY8RGrccK— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) February 18, 2023
But The Checkers quickly answered, just 1:18 later with a goal from Riley Nash (17) at 3:38, closing the gap to a single goal. Matt Kiersted (8) and Aleksi Heponiemi (21) had the assists.
big goal big goal pic.twitter.com/rpiRYvEAUr
— Charlotte Checkers (@CheckersHockey) February 18, 2023
The Bears extended their lead to 4-2 with a goal from Mike Sgarbossa (17) at 17:16. Bobby Nardella (0), Jake Massie (0)
But once again, the Checkers closed the gap to 4-3 with the goalie pulled at 6-on-5 with 100 seconds remaining in the game.
Mike Vecchione added an empty net goal with 1:17 remaining to reinstate the Bears two-goal lead, 5-3.
Connor McMichael added another late empty net goal to make it 6-3. That would be the final.
The same two teams do it again tomorrow. Puck drop is set for 4PM ET.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 7,116