Bears Suffer 5-1 Loss in Allentown Friday

February 9, 2018

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms exploded with a four-goal second period en route to a 5-1 win over the Hershey Bears on Friday night at the PPL Center. Corban Knight scored twice in the middle period to put the game out of reach as the Phantoms improved to 5-0-0-0 versus Hershey in Allentown this season.

An evenly matched first period where Hershey led in shots, 9-8, was disrupted by a late Phantoms goal. With 5.5 seconds left in the period, Greg Carey threw a shot on net from a sharp angle, where Nicolas Aube-Kubel banked it past Herhsey goaltender Vitek Vanecek to make it 1-0.

Lehigh Valley extended their lead to 5-0 within the next 20 minutes, and the scoring parade started on the power play. At 5:36, Travis Sanheim blasted a shot from the center point, low to the ice past Vanecek.

At 7:07, the Phantoms capitalized on a Vanecek miscue behind his own net. After leaving the crease to play the puck, Vanecek sent the puck to the tape of Lehigh Valley's Cole Bardreau at the goal line. Bardreau found Knight at the front of the net, and he tallied to extend the lead to 3-0.

Down three, Garrett Mitchell, Zach Sill and Mason Mitchell aggressively pressed deep into the offensive zone on the attack. After a wild cross-ice pass, the loose puck sprung the speedy Lehigh Valley forward Chris Conner for a breakaway. Conner slipped behind the defense and scored five-hole on Vanecek to end his night at 9:29 of the middle period.

Knight tallied a second time in the period to put the contest out of reach before intermission. On a great individual effort by Colin McDonald in the offensive end, he sent a backhand pass from behind the net to Knight crashing the right post. Knight beat Nathan Walker to the puck and beat new Hershey goaltender Pheonix Copley with a shot short side at 17:07.

Hershey would snap Alex Lyon's bid for his first shutout of the season in the third period. At 11:14. Dustin Gazley finished a crisp passing play and fired a quick shot past Lyon's glove hand to cut the deficit to 5-1.

The 5-1 final dropped Hershey's record to 18-23-3-4, while the Phantoms improve to 28-14-3-3. The Bears outshot the Phantoms, 31-25.

The Hershey Bears return to the ice tomorrow at 7 p.m., as they face off against the Hartford Wolf Pack. It's Papa John's Pizza Night at Giant Center, and all fans in attendance will receive a voucher for a free Papa Johns Pizza. It'll also mark the potential debuts of forwards Joe Whitney and Adam Chapie who were acquired via trade from the New York Rangers organization on Friday.