Photo: Cleveland Monsters
The Hershey Bears beat the Cleveland Monsters, 4-1 Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. The victory improves the Bears record to 40-16-5-4 (89 points) on the season.
Joe Snively sniped an early 5-on-3 power play goal and Aaron Ness added his 4th goal of the season for a 2-0 lead at the first intermission. Riley Sutter added his 5th goal of the season in the middle frame and Joe Snively added his second goal of the game in the final frame for the 4-1 win. Hershey is now 6-0-0-2 in their last eight games.
LINEUP
Hunter Shepard (17-6-5-1, 2.09 GAA, .918 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Jet Greaves (16-13-5-1, 3.21 GAA, .897 sv%) got the start in goal for the Monsters. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mike Vecchione – Mike Sgarbossa – Garrett Pilon
Joe Snively – Connor McMichael – Sam Anas
Mason Morelli – Hendrix Lapierre – Henrik Rybinski
Beck Malenstyn – Riley Sutter – Shane Gersich
Gabriel Carlsson – Dylan McIlrath
Bobby Nardella – Aaron Ness
Lucas Johansen – Vinny Iorio
Scratches: Ethen Frank (upper body injury), Matt Strome, Julian Napravnik, Logan Day, Jake Massie, Henrik Borgstrom and Bogdan Trineyev.
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears had an early five-on-three power play and they would make the Monsters pay. Joe Snively (8) fired from close range to give the Bears an early 1-0 lead at 5:59 of the first. Mike Sgarbossa (36) and Mike Vecchione (27) had the helpers.
Joe Snipely! Snively with a 5-on-3 power play goal, his 8th tally of the season. Bears lead 1-0. #ALLCAPS #HBH pic.twitter.com/b7OGRkarAm
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) April 1, 2023
The Bears made it 2-0 early in the first frame. Aaron Ness (4) finished on a 2-on-1 rush with Mike Vecchione for the tally at 11:52.
Anyone else up for tic-tac-toe? Fourth of the season for @Aaron_Ness!
🍎 Vecchione pic.twitter.com/Z1EDmYHizW
— X – Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) April 1, 2023
That was it for the first period, as the Bears jumped out to another sizable, early lead. Hershey led in shots, 12-10 in the first period. Hershey was 1 for 2 and Cleveland 0 for 3 on the power play in the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears made it 3-0 on a breakaway tally from Riley Sutter (5) at 14:05 of the middle frame. Shane Gersich provided the perfect setup pass for the tally. Shane Gersich (12) and Mason Morelli (26) had the helpers.
Shane Gersich to Riley Sutter for the finish. Bears lead 3-0 in the 2nd. The Bears 4th line continues impressive play. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/fF4zXoB35D
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) April 1, 2023
And that was it for the middle frame. Shots were tied 5-5 in the second period, with the Bears leading 17-15 after 40 minutes of play. Hershey was 1 for 3 and Cleveland 0 for 5 on the power play after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears stretched their lead to 4-0 on Joe Snively‘s second goal of the game at 3:32 of the final frame. The play involved all Bears on the ice. Connor McMichael (21) and Bobby Nardella (18) had the helpers. The assist extends Connor McMichael’s points streak to nine games.
Heck of a sequence here. In the end, Joe Snively finishes for his 2nd goal of the game. Assists should go to all Bears on the ice. Bears lead 4-0. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9K7HKyDJug
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) April 2, 2023
The Monsters scored their first goal with a little more than five minutes remaining. Tyler Angle (10) notched the marker at 14:50 to make it 4-1.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 12,094
- Shots were tied 25-25
- Hershey is now 6-0-0-2 in last eight games.
- Joe Snively led all Bears in shots with 5.
- Bears penalty kill was a perfect 5 for 5.
- Hunter Shepard stopped 24 of 25 shots faced for a .960 game sv%.
- Stars of the game: 1) Joe Snively, 2) Hunter Shepard and 3) Mike Vecchione.