Photo: Toronto Marlies

The Hershey Bears downed the Toronto Marlies, 3-1 Tuesday afternoon at Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, Canada. The victory improves the Bears record to 39-16-5-4 (87 points) on the season.

Hendrix Lapierre scored his first goal in more than two months (January 14) to start the scoring and Sam Anas quickly added his 11th goal of the season for a 2-0 Bears lead at the first intermission. After a Marlies tally in the middle frame, Sam Anas added a second tally early in the third period to make it 3-1, the final. Hunter Shepard stopped 21 of 22 shots faced in the win.

LINEUP

Hunter Shepard (16-6-5-1, 2.13 GAA, .917 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Joseph Woll (16-2-1-0, 2.29 GAA, .930 sv%) got the start in goal for the Marlies. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

Mike Vecchione – Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Joe Snively – Connor McMichael – Sam Anas
Mason Morelli – Hendrix Lapierre – Garrett Pilon
Beck Malenstyn – Riley Sutter – Matt Strome

Gabriel Carlsson – Dylan McIlrath
Lucas Johansen – Vinny Iorio
Aaron Ness – Bobby Nardella

Scratches: Shane Gersich, Julian Napravnik, Logan Day, Henrik Rybinski, Jake Massie, Henrik Borgstrom and Bogdan Trineyev.

FIRST PERIOD

The Bears once again wasted little time in denting the twine in this one. Hendrix Lapierre (11) scored his first goal in more than two months to give the Bears the early 1-0 lead just 2:04 into the contest. Garrett Pilon (14) and Vincent Iorio (17) had the helpers.

Play Hendrix! Hendrix Lapierre’s first goal since January 14. Bears lead 1-0. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/26tUn8EpOd

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) March 29, 2023

The Bears quickly made it 2-0 on Sam Anas‘ 11th goal of the season at 5:08 of the first frame. Joe Snively (14) and Connor McMichael (20) had the assists.

Bears second goal, courtesy of Sam Anas. Bears lead 2-0 to start the 2nd period. #ALLCAPS #HBH pic.twitter.com/AKYrGgrdBT

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) March 29, 2023

And that was it for the first 20 minutes. A very familiar scenario as the Bears held an early 2-0 lead. Hershey led in shots, 9-7. Toronto was 0 for 1 on the power play while the Bears did not have a man advantage in the first frame.

SECOND PERIOD

Ethen Frank did not return for the start of the second period. He was ruled out for the remainder of the game with an upper body injury.

The Bears and Marlies skated to a scoreless draw for a majority of the middle frame before the Marlies scored with 2:18 remaining in the period. Logan Shaw (19) notched the Marlies first tally at 17:42. Nick Abruzzese (29) and Tommy Miller (7) had the helpers.

A SHAWZY SIZZLER 🔥 pic.twitter.com/n2jVSUWbm0

— Toronto Marlies (@TorontoMarlies) March 29, 2023

And that was it for the second period. Bears led in shots, 11-6 in the second period and 20-13 after two periods of play. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Toronto 0 for 2 on the power play after 40 minutes of play.

THIRD PERIOD

The Bears stretched their lead to 3-1 on Sam Anas‘ second goal of the game and fifth tally in the last five games. The goal was unassisted.

Sam Anas with his second goal of the game. It’s his 5th goal in last five games. Bears lead 3-1 in the third period. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/AVsJJR6ULl

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) March 29, 2023

And that was it for the final frame, as the Bears held on for the 3-1 victory.

SHAVINGS

• AHL box score
• Attendance: 6,805
• Bears led in shots, 28-22
• Both teams were 0 for 3 on the power play.