Photo: Providence Bruins
The Hershey Bears downed the Providence Bruins, 3-2 Friday night at the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island. Washington Capitals 2022 first round draft pick Ivan Miroshnichenko scored his first career AHL goal in the victory. The win improves the Bears record to 2-1-0 on the season.
Hunter Shepard (0-0-0) got the start in goal for the visiting Bears. Brandon Bussi (0-1-1) got the start between the pipes for the Bruins. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Mike Vecchione – Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Joe Snively – Henrik Rybinski – Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Ivan Miroshnichenko – Hendrix Lapierre – Pierrick Dube
Alex Limoges – Riley Sutter – Bogdan Trineyev
Aaron Ness – Dylan McIlrath
Jake Massie – Logan Day
Chase Priskie – Vincent Iorio
Hunter Shepard
Mitchell Gibson
FIRST PERIOD
The Bruins opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal from Luke Toporowski (2) at 7:58. Toporowski rushed the puck up the right wing and fired a shot from the right circle that beat Shepard on the blocker-side. The goal was unassisted. The Bears were leading in shots 7-0 before the Bruins dented the twine.
TOPPER FROM LONG RANGE 🎯 pic.twitter.com/cTbL8W49JX
— Providence Bruins (@AHLBruins) October 20, 2023
And that was it for the opening stanza. The Bears led in shots, 10-3. The Bears were 0 for 2 on the power play while the Bruins did not have a man advantage in the first 20 minutes.
SECOND PERIOD
The Bears tied the game with a power play goal from Mike Vecchione at 5:19 of the middle frame. Chase Priskie (1) and Mike Sgarbossa (2) had the helpers.
The New England kid just 𝑝𝑎ℎ𝑘𝑒𝑑 himself in the front of the net. Kid’s 𝑤𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑚𝑎ℎ𝑡.
🍎 Priskie
🍏 Sgarbossa pic.twitter.com/pD9JdtvVEC— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) October 21, 2023
The Bears took their first lead of the game late in the middle period on Ivan Miroshnichenko‘s first career AHL goal at 19:34. Pierrick Dubé (2) and Joe Snively (2) had the assists.
Ivan Miroshnichenko with his first AHL goal. Bears lead 2-1 after two periods. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/B54NfzUXW6
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) October 21, 2023
The period concluded with the Bears leading 2-1. The Bears led in shots, 9-6 in the second period and 19-9 after two periods. Hershey was 1 for 5 and Providence 0 for 1 on the power play after 40 minutes.
THIRD PERIOD
The Bears extended their lead to 3-1 on a goal from Mike Sgarbossa (2) at 1:!0 of the final frame. Ethen Frank (3) and Mike Vecchione (2) had the assists.
Second straight game with a goal for Sgarbs!
🍎 Frank
🍏 Vecchione pic.twitter.com/CNGRT6SyUpprovidence’s man advantage and — Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) October 21, 2023
The Bruins cut the Bears lead to 3-2 with 5:45 remaining in regulation with a rebound goal from Dan Renouf (1). Jesper Boqvist (1) had the lone assist.
The Bruins were awarded a late power play but the Bears penalty kill was able to squash Providence’s man advantage as the Bears held on for the 3-2 win.
SHAVINGS
- NHL Box Score
- Bears led in shots 27-16.
- Bears were 1 for 5 and Bruins 0 for 3 on the power play.
- First Bears win in Providence since January, 2020.
- Bears defenseman Aaron Ness did not play in the third period.
Way to go Miro!
Miro!
I believe I heard Zach say that this was Hunter’s first game in net.
Yep, missed first two due to illness. He also said -regime caps many swap Shep Daddy for Clay Stevenson tomorrow. Bears have aa 3 in 3 so they will need to rest Shep anyway.
I’m not sure that traveling from Providence to Montreal tonight or early tomorrow (to be Caps’ backup) and then back to Bridgeport for Sunday’s game by 3:00 pm would exactly be restful for him. Or would he just go back home with the Caps late Saturday but not go to Bridgeport.
And then if they send Stevenson to Hershey, he’d have to travel to Montreal to Providence tonight and play both Saturday and Sunday since I doubt Shep can get back to Bridgeport by 3:00 pm. Sunday if he’s in Montreal on Saturday.
My assumption is that Hershey plays their current backup tomorrow and Shepard plays Sunday but remains with Hershey for the weekend.
The Stingrays open their new season tomorrow night. The season-opening roster is made up of 26 players, including 15 forwards, nine (9) defensemen, and two (2) goaltenders. One player has veteran (V) status, ten (10) have rookie (R) eligibility, and 14 have played with the Stingrays before.
Forwards: Jack Adams (R), Jonny Evans, Austin Magera (R), Jarid Lukosevicius, Ryan Steele (R), Josh Wilkins, Ryan Leibold (R), Jackson Leppard (RSV), Kevin O’Neil, Tyson Empey, Patrick Harper, Ian Mackey (R/IR), Garet Hunt (V), Matt Tugnutt, Tyler Sandhu (R/IR)
Defensemen: Peter DiLiberatore, Connor Hall (R/IR), Benton Maass, Bryce Montgomery (R), Michael Kim, Jon McDonald (R), Cole Fraser, Spencer Meier (R/RSV), Connor Moore
Goaltenders: Reid Cooper (R), Garin Bjorklund (R)
Two surprises to me. One, Tyler Wall who was so spectacular in net for them last year is not signed with any team anywhere. Second, I expected Sudz to be loaned to them to get game experience and not just sit on the bench in Hershey.
Sudz needs to get experience somewhere and not just languish on the Bears’ bench.
I was lucky enough to be at the game and despite missing the first two games due to the flu, Hunter was sharp in net outside of the short handed goal. The second Bruins goal was deflected in off a Hershey dman behind his line of sight so he wasn’t able to do much on that one, but he made some huge saves when it counted including a body covering save in a mad scramble (it got challenged as a goal but ultimately did not count). Excited to see Gibson probably in net tomorrow, and interested to see who gets rotated into the lineup and if we will see Suzdalev.
Thanks for the report, Doc!
Yeah, me too regarding Gibby. And maybe Hofer and Suzdalev??
Putting Gibby in goal tomorrow seems like the logical move. I think having Stevenson and Shepard swapping roster spots for Saturday’s game would be a logistical nightmare for them both and not help either of them, performance-wise.
Miro!
Man, Miro is such a great story.
He returned from cancer recovery just last November, less than a year.
Miro!
God bless Miro!