Bears Drop Veterans Day Tilt in Syracuse

November 11, 2018

The Hershey Bears scored twice on the power play, but dropped a 7-2 decision on the road to the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday night. The Bears finished the weekend with an overall 7-8-0-1 record after splitting two games.

The Crunch opened the game with a string of five unanswered goals to jump out to a commanding 5-0 lead. At 4:49, Carter Verhaeghe opened the scoring after burying a chance from the low-slot after a defensive zone turnover. At 7:23, Syracuse snapped Hershey's streak of 37 consecutive penalty kills. After Shane Gersich was whistled for hooking at 6:31, Erik Cernak beat Bears goaltender Ilya Samsonov with a perimeter blast into the net.

Syracuse scored on their next power play chance to open a 3-0 lead at 11:52 of the first period. Cory Conacher tallied his fifth goal of the season after another point shot found its way past Samsonov. First period shots were 15-2 Syracuse in addition to their commanding 3-0 cushion.

Into the middle stanza, the Crunch continued to add to their lead. Taylor Raddysh found room in the low-slot and danced around Samsonov for Syracuse's third power play goal of the night at 9:24. In similar fashion, Andy Andreoff joined the scoring at 12:11 after a beating Samsonov five-hole on a shot from in close.Later in the second period, Hershey began to generate power play chances of their own and scored two goals within a minute. At 18:08, Mike Sgarbossa scored on the man-advantage immediately following an offensive zone face-off win. Riley Barber cut the Bears deficit to 5-2 with another power play strike off a face-off at 18:59. Shots after 40 minutes were 21-15 Syracuse with the Bears trailing 5-2.

In the third frame, Syracuse added a fourth power play goal. Cameron Gaunce received credit for the goal at 9:42 after the puck rainbowed up and over Samsonov. The Crunch rounded out the scoring with one more at 15:01. Alexander Volkov raced down the right wing on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Samsonov low to the ice to complete the 7-2 final. Final shots on goal were 30-19 Syracuse. The Bears ended the night 2-for-8 on the power play, while Syracuse scored four power play goals on five attempts.

The Hershey Bears return to the ice on Friday, November 16 for a 7 p.m. tilt at Giant Center against the Cleveland Monsters. It's Hershey Pharmacy & Gift Stress Puck Night, Faith & Family Night and Dietz & Watson Dollar Dog Night. Ticket information is available online at HersheyBears.com