Photo: Lehigh Valley Phantoms
The Hershey Bears downed the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, 2-1 Friday night at the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. Ethen Frank recorded his 26th goal of the season and Sam Anas scored in his first game back after missing the previous 29 games due to abdominal surgery in the victory. The win improves the Bears record to 36-16-5-2 (79 points) on the season.
LINEUP
Hunter Shepard (13-6-5-1, 2.28 GAA, .911 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Samuel Ersson (19-12-1-1, 2.69 GAA, .905 sv%) got the start in goal for the Phantoms. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Joe Snively –Connor McMichael – Ethen Frank
Mason Morelli – Garrett Pilon – Sam Anas
Shane Gersich – Henrik Rybinski –Julain Napravnik
Beck Malenstyn – Riley Sutter – Matt Strome
Aaron Ness – Logan Day
Jake Massie – Lucas Johansen
Bobby Nardella – Dylan McIlrath
Scratches: Mike Vecchione (illness), Vinny Iorio (upper body injury), Mike Sgarbossa (upper body injury), Hendrix Lapierre (upper body injury), Henrik Borgstrom (upper body injury) and Benton Maass.
On Wednesday Bears head coach Todd Nelson said Vincent Iorio will be out 7-10 days. Hendrix Lapierre is still a week away from returning.
Recalls/Reassignments: Kale Kessy was traded to Colorado for future considerations earlier in the week. Defender Michael Kim was loaned to our ECHL affiliate, the SC Stingrays, on Wednesday.
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears and Phantoms skated to a scoreless draw for most of the first frame before Ethen Frank (26) deposited a rebound of a Joe Snively shot at 18:56. Joe Snively (10) and Connor McMichael (18) had the helpers.
Ethen Frank with his 26th goal of the season. Bears lead 1-0 after 20. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/gbr9Eg9fw7
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) March 17, 2023
And that was it for the first period. Lehigh Valley led in shots, 8-7 for the first frame. The Phantoms were 0 for 2 on the power play while the Bears did not have a man advantage in the first 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The Phantoms tied the game late in the middle frame with a tally from Ronnie Attard (11) at 16:09 of the second period. Adam Ginning (15) and Olle Lycksell (28) had the helpers.
Huge for the program! #LVvsHER | #OurValleyOurHome pic.twitter.com/wKBoHj4Ink
— Lehigh Valley Phantoms (@LVPhantoms) March 18, 2023
And that was it for the middle frame. Lehigh Valley led in shots, 6-4 in the middle frame and 14-11 after two periods. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Lehigh Valley 0 for 3 on the power play after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears regained the lead on a power play snipe by Sam Anas (8) at 10:47 of the final frame. Julian Napravnik (1) and Bobby Nardella (17) had the assists.
In his first game back since Dec. 21, @SamAnas7 hits the net with a 🎯
🍎 Napravnik
🍏 Nardella pic.twitter.com/rnx8187XaA— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) March 18, 2023
And that was it as the Bears held on to win 2-1 in their final visit to the PPL Center this season.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 6,019
- Lehigh Valley led in shots, 22-19.
- Sam Anas’ goal was his 300th career AHL point.
- Sam Anas missed 29 games after undergoing abdominal surgery.
- Stars of the game: 1) Sam Anas, 2) Ronnie Attard (#12) and 3) Ethen Frank.
Clay had a bad night letting in 4 of 32 shots while the Stingrays could only manage 1 goal on 21 shots. Bear and Kim had one sog each. Not sure I want to watch this one. They really needed the 2 points and to deny Greenville the 2.
I get the sense Clay has been sagging lately? “The Wall” is a real thing late in rookie seasons. Ask Hendrix Lapierre.
Tyler Wall has been the better goalie lately. Bear is out on the ice playing but his scoring is down and only 1 sog? Now, I know posts and other shots don’t count as sog even though to me they are, but his production has also hit that rookie wall.
Ah, I thought I saw a Hughes goal in Twitter.
Last goal I’m aware of was last Friday (3/10) against Everblades. Now, ECHL might have changed their minds on a deflection but I’m not aware of any.
Maass in the lineup for the Bears tonight.
Will look for him
🐻
FloHockey had no SC audio when I was watching them before switching to the Bears. From the tweet, looks like they still don’t.
Kim has an assist as well.
Maass with his first point on Frank goal:
My man Kim! My new favorite player!
Any chance Frank gets the call?
He can’t this season (he’s on n AHL deal), but his new contract for next season will allow him to play in NHL.
Gawd, those Lehigh Valley white unis are hideous. Looked like the Dr. Dentons I had when I was 4
This Ethen Frank kid is making a believer out of me. Some players can’t quite make the jump. Who remembers Martin Gendron and Reggie Savage? Joe Snively is ready to play a regular shift in the NHL and Frank appears to be ahead of him. Hope springs eternal. Let’s look for Frank in the Caps’ middle 6 next season. 23 goals!
Want to watch the Bears? Their Saturday game against the Americans is free on AHLtv. 7pm.
A good one, too. The two oldest teams in the AHL. It’s also hall-of-fame induction day, but not sure how much AHLTV will cover of that.
Love your prospect coverage, thanks! You guys are THE Source.
They are. Awesome job that they do
Shot generation was an issue again last night.