Photo: Rochester Americans
The Hershey Bears rallied from two goals down in the third period to defeat the Rochester Americans, 4-2 in game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals Monday night at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. With the win, the Bears take a commanding three games to one lead in the best-of-seven series.
The Amerks notched the game’s first tally just over three minutes into the contest and stretched their lead to 2-0 late in the second period to hold a 2-0 lead at the second intermission. But it would be all Bears in the final frame.
The Bears got on the scoreboard with a tally from Lucas Johansen and tied the game three minutes later with a goal from Logan Day. The Bears took their first lead of the night with a goal from Mason Morelli, to make it 3-2. Morelli added an empty net goal to make it 4-2, the final.
LINEUP
Hunter Shepard (8-2-0, 1.90 GAA, .929 sv%) got the start between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Malcolm Subban (7-4-0, 2.79 GAA, .910 sv%) got the start in goal for the Americans. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mason Morelli – Garrett Pilon – Mike Vecchione
Joe Snively – Connor McMichael – Ethen Frank
Aliaksei Protas – Hendrix Lapierre – Sam Anas
Beck Malenstyn – Riley Sutter – Shane Gersich
Aaron Ness – Logan Day
Gabriel Carlsson – Dylan McIlrath
Jake Massie – Lucas Johansen
Hunter Shepard
Zach Fucale
Scratches: Henrik Borgstrom (illness), Vincent Iorio (injury – day-to-day), Mike Sgarbossa (injury), Bobby Nardella, Henrik Rybinski, Matt Strome, Julian Napravnik, Bogdan Trineyev, Ludwig Persson, Dru Krebs, Alexander Suzdalev.
FIRST PERIOD
Rochester wasted little time in denting the twine in game 4. Linus Weissbach (4) notched the game’s first tally at 3:01 of the first. Filip Cederqvist (2) and Zach Metsa (2) had the helpers.
Crash the net ✔️
Get the rebound ✔️
Score a goal ✔️ pic.twitter.com/u3Sqf6OOUb— x-Rochester Americans (@AmerksHockey) May 29, 2023
That was it for an otherwise yawner of a first frame. Shots on goal were tied 8-8. Rochester was 0 for 2 on the power play while the Bears did not have a man advantage in the first frame.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears controlled the possession in the first half of the second period, but Amerks’ netminder Malcolm Subban was up to the task.
Malcolm Subban standing tall so far in game 4. Bears trail 1-0 with 12:10 remaining in 2nd period. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/dYDF6Fbyls
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) May 29, 2023
The Bears dominated possession for most of the second period but the Amerks began to find a little offensive push with about six minutes remaining in the period and would extend their lead to 2-0 with a goal from Linus Weissbach (3), his second of the game, at 16:01. Matt Bartkowski (1) and Filip Cederqvist (3) had the assists.
LINUS WEISSBACH X2 pic.twitter.com/xwsAUOxRPj
— x-Rochester Americans (@AmerksHockey) May 29, 2023
The Bears went to the power play with 1:38 remaining in the second period, but were unable to dent the twine, as the Amerks held a 2-0 lead after two periods of play.
Hershey led in shots 14-7 in the second period and 22-15 after two periods of play. Rochester was 0 for 2 and Hershey 0 for 3 on the power play after 40 minutes of play.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears cut the Amerks lead in half with a goal from Lucas Johansen at 10:06 of the final frame. Connor McMichael (3) and Mason Morelli (4) had the assists.
Lucas Johansen finds a way, gets the Bears on the board. Bears trail 2-1 with 10 mins left. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/ljDtxygz3E
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) May 30, 2023
The Bears tied the game a little over two minutes later. Logan Day notched the tying tally at 12:11. Connor McMichael (3) and Mason Morelli (4) had the helpers.
Second goal of the weekend for Dazy, and third of the postseason!
🍎 McMichael
🍏 Morelli pic.twitter.com/s0mBUCI1AP— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) May 30, 2023
The Bears took their first lead of the night with a goal from Mason Morelli at 15:27 of the third period. Logan Day (5) and Garrett Pilon (5) had the assists.
The GAME-WINNER from Mo!
🍎 Day
🍏 Pilon pic.twitter.com/4HgLrg9CUA— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) May 30, 2023
Mason Morelli added an empty need goal for the 4-2 final.
Also, props to Protas. Pretty sure he could have shot this, but dished to Morelli for the score. pic.twitter.com/ETRg1qtd2N
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) May 30, 2023
Game 5 is set for Wednesday night in Hershey.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 10, 687 (Sell out)
- Hershey led in shots 36-22
- Mason Morelli had two goals and an assist.
- Logan Day had a goal and an assist for the second straight game.
- Rochester was 0 for 2 and Hershey 0 for 3 on the power play.
- The Bears penalty kill is a perfect 7 for 7 in the series.
- Bears have scored 19 goals in the third period the postseason.
- First time Hershey has played on Memorial Day since 2009.
This team gives me some serious 2018 Caps vibes. After the disappointment that was the Caps season, this is refreshing as hell.
Confirmed. Getting the 2018 vibes as well.
Don’t know if it has been mentioned, but AHL dot com has an article “Bears being rewarded for faith in Shepard”
I saw that
I think I saw that title spin earlier in the season.
This article is dated May 27.
Someone used similar title/play on Shepard in December or January
5 more wins = 12 Calder Cup!
Bears were banging in the door the entire game. They deserved those late rallies. This matchup isn’t turning out to be much of a contest. Checkers still the biggest test to date.
Bravo to their comeback win for tonight.
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Go Bears! Bring on Coachella!
Well, we still need to close out this series. Haha. But certainly like our position.
Yes! Appreciate the confidence, but… ::knocks on wood::
What a game. That third period was one for the ages.
Incredible. Four unanswered goals in 10 minutes.
That was fun. Bears were all over them in the second until they gave up the second goal. Glad to see them keep brining it in the third and getting rewarded.
McMichael is really making a case for himself. This looks like a guy ready to go back to NHL next year and with a different coach will hopefully will shine. Protas has been a beast as well. Need to have these guys in the lineup next year. Frank and Lapierre will need more time.
And Logan Day. Damn he has been impressive!
Agree with all your points, dominated the possession all night. I would also add that Protas was a East in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Lapierre makes some really nice plays… and some not so nice ones. But I don’t think he’s too far away from pushing for an NHL job.
Frank has shown nothing in these playoffs. I had expected more from him this series, since it is now clear that the Rochester team GAA for the year is not a fluke — they just suck on D, and their goaltending is also a question mark. Subban was great for a while tonight, but ultimately returned to (bad) form. Frank should be able to take advantage, but just hasn’t. Here’s hoping that changes in the next game, because the Bears top line has been pretty weak in these playoffs, to the point that their other lines could all be described as the first line — including the 4th line, which started the game tonight– ahead of what is nominally the first line. Depth is great, but they need Frank to start scoring.
That was fun. Why doesn’t NBC Sports Washington show regular season games?
Contracts. AHLtv has the rights to air all AHL games. One local Hershey station has started to air more games each year but I have no idea what that is costing them. I think that Ted’s new NBCSW could work a deal but what would it cost Ted?
I have loads of questions about TED’s replacement for NBCSW one of them being if it will still be carried by Cox, Comcast, and FiOS or will it become streaming only as some regional sport channels appear to be heading. Heck, even ESPN is rumored to go that way in a couple of years.
All valid points. My gut says that NBC Sports Washington just changed its name, but the coverage will be very similar, just a guess.
This is my highlight of the game. 😂
That’s hilarious. Is that a swear word in Belarus?
I’ll be at Game 5, even though I work at 4 am the next day. Fun times ahead lol