Atlantic Division Semifinals Game 4 Preview: Bears at Phantoms, 7:05 p.m.

May 9, 2025

The best-of-five Atlantic Division Semifinals resumes tonight with Game 4 of the series at the PPL Center in Allentown. The Phantoms lead the best-of-five series 2-1, and the Bears must win tonight to force a decisive Game 5, which would take place Sunday at GIANT Center. 

Hershey Bears (1-2) at Lehigh Valley Phantoms (4-1)
May 4, 2025 | 7:05 p.m. | PPL Center | Lehigh Valley leads the series, 2-1
Referees: Stephen Hiff (46), Mike Sullivan (47)
Linespersons: Jud Ritter (34), J.P. Waleski (14)

Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch and FOX43 sports director Todd Sadowski on the call
TELEVISION: Antenna TV (WPMT FOX 43.2, Xfinity Ch. 247 and 1178, Verizon FiOS Ch. 463, Blue Ridge Ephrata Ch. 91, and Blue Ridge Newberry/Duncannon Ch. 88)
RADIO: WFVY 100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, Capitals Radio
WATCH LIVE: AHLTV on FloHockey
LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports 1460-AM Stream, Caps Radio 24/7
Radio pre-game coverage starts at 6:35 p.m.; Television coverage starts at 7 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT:
The Bears rallied from a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead in the second period, but the Lehigh Valley Phantoms responded with three goals of their own to deal Hershey a 4-2 loss in Game 3 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals last Sunday afternoon at PPL Center. Lehigh Valley's Jacob Gaucher started the scoring shorthanded at 11:23 of the first period for the hosts, but the Bears bounced back with goals from Andrew Perrott at 3:03 at Ivan Miroshnichenko at 4:27 of the middle frame. Lehigh Valley captain Garrett Wilson netted a power-play goal to level the score at 13:09 and Nikita Grebenkin scored at 15:51 to put Lehigh Valley back in front, 3-2. Olle Lycksell capped the scoring at 14:09 of the third period to give the Phantoms the 2-1 series lead. Cal Petersen earned the win in net for the Phantoms with 15 saves after entering at 11:12 of the second period due to an injury to starting netminder Parker Gahagen.

COMING BACK IN A BEST-OF-FIVE:
The last time the Bears faced a 2-1 deficit in a best-of-five series was the 2016 Atlantic Division Semifinals versus the Portland Pirates. The first-seeded Bears dropped a heartbreaker in Game 3, losing 2-1 in triple overtime at GIANT Center to the fourth-seeded Pirates to fall behind in the series. Hershey rallied with a 2-0 shutout victory in Game 4, before taking the series with a 2-1 win in the decisive Game 5. That Bears club, which featured current Hershey captain Aaron Ness, advanced all the way to the 2016 Calder Cup Finals, losing in four games to the Lake Erie Monsters. 

BACKS AGAINST THE WALL:
Hershey has faced elimination just twice in the past two runs to Calder Cup titles. Last year, Hershey squared off with Cleveland in a do-or-die Game 7, and Garrett Roe's goal in overtime sent Hershey to the 2024 Calder Cup Finals. The year prior, Mike Vecchione scored the Calder Cup winning-goal in overtime of a winner-take-all Game 7 of the Finals at Coachella Valley. The last time Hershey faced elimination in a non-decisive game of a series came in 2022 in Game 2 of the Atlantic Division First Round series versus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Captain Dylan McIlrath scored the winning-goal in a 2-1 decision at GIANT Center to force a deciding Game 3 of the series. 

ALEX ADDS ON:
Hershey forward Alex Limoges logged an assist in Game 3 last Sunday, giving him a point in all three games of the series (1g, 2a). Going back to the regular season, Limoges has points in five straight games overall (2g, 4a). He also owns a five-game playoff point streak (1g, 6a), dating back to the 2024 Calder Cup Finals. In his postseason career with the Bears, Limoges has 16 points (5g, 11a) in 23 games.

COUNTING ON THE POWER PLAY:
Hershey is looking to retool its power play for Game 4. The Bears are just 1-for-16 (6.3%) on the man-advantage in the series so far, while also surrendering three shorthanded goals. In the regular season, the Bears went 24-6-5-0 when they scored on the power play. Over the club's championship-winning playoff runs the last two years, Hershey has gone a combined 21-4 in games in which they scored a power-play goal. 

STARTING FAST:
During the regular season the Bears scored the first goal of the game 34 times, posting a record of 25-4-5-0 when scoring first. Ivan Miroshnichenko led Hershey with five first goals, while Brad Hunt led the team's blue line with two. Including head-to-head results from the regular season and this series, the Bears are 5-0 against the Phantoms when scoring first, while Lehigh Valley is 7-0-1. 

BEARS BITES:
The Bears have an all-time postseason record of 18-14 against the Phantoms...Hershey is 5-1 in Game 4s over the past two postseason runs...The Bears have an all-time record of 5-10 in best-of-five series in which they had a 2-1 deficit. Of those 15 series, Hershey forced a decisive Game 5 a total of 12 times..Hershey needs two consecutive wins to claim the series. During the regular season, Hershey followed up a victory with a win in its next game 24 times...The last time the Phantoms had a series lead with a chance to eliminate its opponent was in the 2023 Atlantic Division First Round versus Charlotte. After claiming Game 1, the Phantoms lost two straight games to fall in the best-of-three series to the Checkers...Forwards Ryan Hofer and Alex Suzdalev were re-assigned to Hershey on Tuesday by the Washington Capitals while the Bears also recalled forward Justin Nachbaur from ECHL South Carolina.

ON THIS DATE:
May 9, 2006 - On this date in 2006, the Bears edged the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 1-0 at GIANT Center to sweep the East Division Finals series four games to none. Goaltender Frederic Cassivi notched his second shutout of the series, while Brooks Laich scored the game's only goal.