Bears Fall 2-1 in Overtime to Phantoms

January 14, 2018

The Hershey Bears dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in front of 10,089 at Giant Center on Sunday evening. T.J. Brennan scored the overtime game-winning goal on the power play at 44 seconds of the extra-session to spoil a sensational night from Hershey goaltender Pheonix Copley, who made 30 saves. 

Similar to the night before, Hershey struck first and the Phantoms answered to tie before second intermission. 15:12 into the game, the Bears' top line of Chris Bourque, Travis Boyd and Mathias Bau cycled the puck beneath the goal line. Bourque crept into the low-slot uncovered and tipped a quick shot past Alex Lyon to give Hershey the lead. The tally was Bourque's 12th of the season, tying Riley Barber for the team lead. Boyd's secondary assist on the marker was his 100th American Hockey League assist, all coming with the Chocolate and White. 

Bidding to add onto the goal total next period, Hershey would get burned on an aggressive pinch. At 8:59 of the second period, the Bears were caught defending a 3-on-1 odd-man rush after a defender was caught high in the offensive zone. Mike Vecchione slid a perfect pass across for Nicolas Aube-Kubel, who poked a backhand shot blocker side past Pheonix Copley to make it 1-1.

Unlike the night before, sixty minutes was not enough to decide a winner between the Bears and Phantoms. At 24 seconds into overtime, Hershey's Aaron Ness was called for hooking leading to a 4-on-3 power play chance for Lehigh Valley.

On their fourth power play chance of the night, T.J. Brennan blasted a shot into the cage to seal a 2-1 win for the Phantoms. The game was the third straight loss for Hershey by a score of 2-1. With game going to overtime, the Bears moved their point streak at home to six games. 

Hershey's record moves to 17-17-3-3, while Lehigh Valley improves to 23-12-2-3. The Chocolate and White are now 2-5-0-1 against the Phantoms in the season series.

Hershey returns to the ice on Wednesday for a 7:05 p.m. tilt in Springfield, Massachusetts against the Thunderbirds. The Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, has the call with pregame beginning at 6:35 p.m. on the Bears Radio Network.