Photo: Providence Bruins

The Hershey Bears fell to the Providence Bruins, 3-1 Wednesday night at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island. The loss drops the Bears record to 41-17-5-4 (91 points) on the season and drops the Bears into second place in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the Bruins. Both teams have five games remaining in the regular season.

The Bruins’ Shane Bowers opened the scoring in the first period and added a tally in the second for a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes of play. Beck Malenstyn scored his seventh goal of the season early in the third to close the gap to 2-1, but that would be it. The Bruins added an empty net goal late for the 3-1 final.

LINEUP

Hunter Shepard (18-6-5-1, 2.05 GAA, .919 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Kyle Keyser (11-4-2-1, 2.57 GAA, .908 sv%) got the start in goal for the Bruins. 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 – did not make the trip), Logan Day, Matt Strome, Julian Napravnik, Jake Massie, Henrik Borgstrom and Bogdan Trineyev.

Vinny Iorio’s “last man on the ice” tactic for tonight’s game is the ol’ “fake heading down the tunnel” routine. Simple, yet effective. 🙂 #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/N1gZBXOf5z

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) April 5, 2023

FIRST PERIOD

The Bears had been doing a good job of scoring early in recent games but it would be the Bruins who struck first in this one. Shane Bowers (5) notched the game’s first tally just 3:35 into the contest. Michael Callahan (7) and Jack Ahcan (27) had the helpers.

Shane Bowers’ first goal in the Black and Gold! pic.twitter.com/1qJeUcutxD

— x – Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) April 5, 2023

The Bears were out-shot 8-1 in the first 10 minutes of the game, as Providence dominated possession in the early going.

The Bears were awarded their first man advantage of the game with 7:32 remaining in the first period, but were unable to convert.

The first period concluded with the Bruins leading 1-0. They also led in shots, 15-7. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Hershey 0 for 2 on the power play after 20 minutes of play.

SECOND PERIOD

The Bruins stretched their lead to 2-0 late in the middle frame on Shane Bowers (6) second goal of the game at 13:55 of the middle frame. Vinni Lettieri (24) and Georgii Merkulov (30) had the assists.

Check out Shane Bowers’ second of the game! pic.twitter.com/iCx5K4dkqm

— x – Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) April 6, 2023

That was it for the middle frame. The Bruins led in shots 11-8 in the second period and 26-15 after 40 minutes of play. Both teams were 0 for 2 on the power play after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD

The Bears finally got on the scoreboard less than four minutes into the final frame. Beck Malenstyn (7) knocked home a gritty goal for the Bears first tally at 3:19 of the third period, closing the gap to 2-1. Riley Sutter (6) and Shane Gersich (13) had the helpers.

It’s the seventh of the season for @malenstyn!

🍎 Sutter pic.twitter.com/1yiyx7ZNHi

— X – Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) April 6, 2023

The Bears were unable to notch the tying tally, falling to the Bruins, 2-1.

The Bears are back in action on Friday when they visit the Thunderbirds in Springfield, Mass. Puck drop is set for 7:05 PM.

SHAVINGS

• AHL box score
• Attendance: 4,199
• Bears nine-game point streak ends.
• Connor McMichael’s 10-game point streak ends.
• Hunter Shepard’s five-game winning streak ends.
• The Bears are now 1-9-1-2 in Providence over the last five seasons.
• Hunter Shepard stopped 25 0f 27 shots faced for a .926 game save percentage.