BEARS START STRONG BUT FALL TO PHANTOMS

December 18, 2015

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Paul Carey tallied a goal and two assists but the Lehigh Valley Phantoms would wipe out an early deficit with five unanswered goals, en route to a 6-4 victory on Friday night at PPL Center.

A wild opening period saw the teams combine for five goals and one lead change.  Lehigh Valley struck first just 3:42 into the contest.  Moments after Justin Peters made a save off of a faceoff, Nick Cousins drew the puck from the left dot back to Samuel Morin whose slapper from the left point eluded Peters and gave the Phantoms a 1-0 lead.

The Bears tied the score just over two minutes later on a nice play at the Lehigh Valley net.  Aaron Ness’s shot from the left side was sticked away by Anthony Stolarz, but the puck came right onto the tape of Carter Camper.  He looked in front for Carey, who fired it home at 5:44 for his 10th of the season.

Carey and Camper would then combine to give Hershey a 2-1 lead at 10:29.  On the Bears’ first power play chance of the night, quick puck movement by Liam O’Brien found Carey at the left point.  Camper had his stick down at the right of the goal crease and redirected a perfect slap-pass into the upper-right corner for his third goal of the season.

The Bears opened up a two-goal lead at 11:54 when Mike Moore intercepted a dump-in and turned it into a break for Chandler Stephenson and Chris Bourque who were both behind the Lehigh Valley defense.  Stephenson fed Bourque who carried down the right side and snapped a hard shot over the shoulder of Stolarz.

Lehigh Valley would counter on the second portion of a five-on-three power play.  A point shot taken by Andrew MacDonald would deflect off of a Hershey defenseman and in behind Peters at 16:48.

The Phantoms turned the tide in the middle frame after a major penalty was assessed to Liam O’Brien.  On the lengthy power play, the hosts scored twice to take a 4-3 lead into the intermission.  Cousins struck when his low slap shot eluded a screened Peters at 5:58.  Maxim Lamarche then converted near the end of the advantage, taking a cross-ice feed from Aaron Palushaj and sending a wrist shot into the upper-right corner at 9:42.

Two more goals by the Phantoms in the third period would put the game out of reach.  Mark Alt’s blast would slide under a screened Peters at 8:37, and a Cole Bardreau deflection at the net front at 15:43 opened up a 6-3 lead.  Travis Boyd would beat Stolarz with a backhander from in close with under nine seconds left in regulation but the Phantoms held the lead from there.

Peters saw his three-game win streak snapped in making 28 saves, falling to 8-4-3.  Stolarz improved to 12-6-1 with 21 saves on 25 shots.  The Bears finished 1-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-6 on the penalty kill.

The Bears return home to host the Toronto Marlies tomorrow, December 19 at 7:00 PM.  The first 5,000 fans will receive a Bears-branded snow globe courtesy of UGI.  Individual tickets for this and all Bears home games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES: The Bears scratched D Tyler Lewington, RW Garrett Mitchell and LW Jakub Vrana…The Phantoms scratched C Tim Brent, LW Chris Conner, D Matt Lashoff, D Christian Marti, RW Michael Parks, D Logan Pyett, RW Jay Rosehill and LW Kevin Sundher… The loss was the first suffered by the Bears in regulation against the Phantoms in the six games played (2-1-1-2)...Chris Bourque extended his point streak to seven games (4-6-10) with his goal.