The Hershey Bears fell to the Belleville Senators, 4-2 Sunday afternoon at the Giant Center in Hershey. Beck Malenstyn notched his fifth tally of the season in the loss. The defeat drops the Bears record to 32-13-5-2 (71 points) on the season.

LINEUP

Hunter Shepard (13-3-5-1, 2.13 GAA, .918 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the Bears. Kevin Mandolese (4-7-2-0, 3.60 GAA, .879 sv%) got the start in goal for the visiting 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 – Riley Sutter – Shane Gersich

Lucas Johansen – Aaron Ness
Gabriel Carlsson – Vinny Iorio
Jake Massie – Bobby Nardella

Scratches: Sam Anas (abdominal surgery, out indefinitely), Kale Kessy (upper body injury), Henrik Rybinski, Logan Day, Matt Strome and Julian Napravnik.

Recalls and Reassignments: Aliaksei Protas was recalled by the Capitals on Friday. Dylan McIlrath was recalled by the Capitals and Joe Snively was re-assigned to the Bears last Sunday.

FIRST PERIOD

The Bears opened the scoring early in the first frame on a redirect by winger Beck Malenstyn (5) at 3:19 of the opening stanza. Vincent Iorio (15), who launched the initial shot from the point, and Shane Gersich (9) had the helpers.

Beck Malenstyn with the redirect for his 5th goal of the season. Bears lead 1-0 early in the 1st. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ju6zZc1ydY

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 26, 2023

The Senators answered less than four minutes later when Egor Sokolov (15) collected an odd bounce off the boards and shoveled it past Hunter Shepard at 7:04 of the first. Jake Lucchini (25) had the lone assist.

Egor on the spot 🚨#ForTheB https://t.co/taszF314ia pic.twitter.com/fFvoCpnT2f

— Belleville Senators (@BellevilleSens) February 26, 2023

That would be all the action in the first frame. Belleville led in shots, 12-9. Both sides were 0 for 2 on the power play in the first period.

SECOND PERIOD

The Senators took their first lead of the game on their ninth shorthanded goal of the season. Jake Lucchini (14) notched the go ahead shorty at 14:35 of the middle frame. Cole Cassels (22) had the lone assist.

Lucch is a bad man 😱#ForTheB https://t.co/DWO0jhP0Hv pic.twitter.com/Xrbwc4c5In

— Belleville Senators (@BellevilleSens) February 26, 2023

And that was it for the middle frame. Hershey led in shots 9-5 in the middle frame and 19-17 after two periods. Hershey was 0 for 3 and Belleville 0 for 4 on the power play after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD

Bears forward Hendrix Lapierre did not return for the third period.

Bears head coach Todd Nelson on status of Hendrix Lapierre, who did not return for the 3rd period: “He has an upper body injury. I haven’t got the diagnose yet from the trainer… He definitely couldn’t play. He tried to fight through it but he couldn’t play.” #ALLCAPS

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 26, 2023

The Sentors added a power play goal from Cole Reinhardt (8) with 2:59 remaining in regulation to make it 3-1, Senators. The Bears pulled Shepard immediately following the Senators third goal.

The Senators had an opportunity for an empty net goal, but missed on the shot. The Bears took it back up the ice and scored to close the gap to 3-2.

Wow! Senators up 3-1 miss an empty net goal and Bears take it back up the ice for a score. 3-2, late. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/vfZXOKZ0Jm

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 26, 2023

The Senators would answer with a late empty net goal to win, 4-2.

SHAVINGS

• AHL box score
• Attendance: 10,597
• Shots tied 27-27.
• Bears were 0 for 5 on the power play.
• Bears five-game point streak ends.