Bears Drop Second Straight to Bruins, 4-1

December 12, 2025

The Hershey Bears (12-10-1-0) fell to the Providence Bruins (19-5-0-0) by a 4-1 score on Friday night at GIANT Center.

Hershey is now 1-2-0-0 against Providence this season; the road team has won each match so far in the season series.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Georgii Merkulov knocked in a rebound while falling to the ice at 7:02 of the first period to give Providence a 1-0 lead. Dans Locmelis scored off the rush at 9:15 to widen the lead to 2-0 for the visitors.
• Brett Leason scored his fifth of the season at 6:52 of the second period with Hershey on the power play to cut Providence's lead in half. Andrew Cristall extended his team-leading assist streak to six games (8a) with the primary helper, while goaltender Clay Stevenson recorded the secondary assist, his first since Jan. 10 at Charlotte.
• Providence restored the two-goal lead with a 5-on-3 power-play goal from Matthew Poitras at 10:58. Ty Gallagher closed out the scoring at 10:30 of the third period.
• Bruins forward Patrick Brown collected three assists on the night, improving to fourth in league scoring with 27 points (10g, 17a).
• Both Jon McDonald and David Gucciardi exited the game during the second period with upper-body injuries; Gucciardi was ruled out for the remainder of the night.

SHOTS: HER 30, PRO 35

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 31-for-35; PRO - Simon Zajicek, 29-for-30

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-2; PRO - 1-for-5

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on the team's work ethic:
"You know, it's kind of been like this most of the year. I think we just don't quit. We work hard [...] We're limited. We're trying. We have some opportunities to score, and it's not a natural thing for some of our guys. They get a puck, and it's, 'what do I do with it? What do I do with it?' And they bury it in the goalie's chest, or the goalie makes a good save. So opportunities are there. We didn't stop quitting. It's too bad - we take that 5-on-3, like you said, and they score, and it just kind of deflates you. Then we get down two 'D', we're tired, Get hemmed in our end and that's a good hockey team. You just can't make those kind of mistakes."

King on if there's concern with a lack of goals generated over the last handful of games:
"I'm not getting concerned. I'd be getting concerned if we weren't getting the chances playing 5-on-5, and we're not seeing any opportunities to score goals or, you know, we're ringing some off the post. We've had some breakaways. We had some good chances tonight too. The chances are there. We've just got to stay positive and think they're going to start going in. Maybe we'll get a goalie that has an off night and they'll go in on him and go in in bunches and we'll get a little confidence and feel good. Right now, I think when they're not going in you tend to maybe look to pass it or you're gripping the stick a little tight. But I've just got to keep these guys a little more relaxed and get them shooting."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Charlotte Checkers, Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for 90s Night. The first 5,000 fans in attendance will receive a Bears fanny pack presented by Highmark. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.