Bears Wrap Series Against Phantoms with 4-2 Loss

March 28, 2026

Boris Katchouk recorded three goals and an assist for the hosts as the visiting Hershey Bears (28-27-6-3) fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (28-30-3-3) by a 4-2 score on Saturday night at PPL Center.

Hershey finished its season series with Lehigh Valley with a record of 4-5-1-0.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Boris Katchouk opened the scoring for Lehigh Valley at 6:53 of the first period.
• An apparent goal by Andrew Cristall at 17:40 that would have tied the game at 1-1 was eventually disallowed.
• Hershey eventually knotted the score with a power-play goal from Ilya Protas at 2:27 of the second period. The goal was Protas' 27th of the season from Louie Belpedio and Bogan Trineyev, and extended Protas' point streak to seven games (5g, 5a).
• Katchouk netted his second of the evening at 3:29 to put Lehigh Valley back in front, 2-1.
• Brett Leason leveled the game at 2-2 at 13:05 of the third period with his 14th of the season, but Phil Tomasino netted the go-ahead goal at 14:10, and Katchouk capped the evening with an empty-net goal to complete his hat trick with one minute remaining in regulation.

SHOTS: HER 24, LV 22

GOALTENDING: HER - Mitch Gibson, 18-for-21; LV - Aleksei Kolosov, 22-for-24

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-4; LV - 1-for-2

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on the overturned goal in the first period:
"Well, [the referee] felt he saw [the play] go offside, so he kind of overruled his [linesperson]. It's tough. It's not the reason why we lost the game tonight, but it didn't help, that's for sure."

King on what led to Hershey allowing a goal to Lehigh Valley in quick succession after scoring both goals tonight:
"We lost our F3, our 'D' didn't play a 2-on-2 the right way, and it was in the back of our net."

King on the season series with Lehigh Valley:
"They're a good hockey team, they're a little depleted right now, so we let one slip away I thought. I didn't think we were outplayed, they just capitalized on their chances and we didn't. We made some mental mistakes, but overall in the whole season, it's just two good teams playing each other and they came up ahead."

King on the team entering a busy week ahead with three road divisional games:
"We used a lot of our energy the night before [at Syracuse]. Now we come in and we're a little tired, but it's going to be up to me to make sure I put the right guys on the ice. And that'll change - I'll have the right guys in the next game. [The opportunity to use rest] is huge, especially with our schedule, and the way we get back tonight, have Sunday off, Monday travel, and Tuesday practice, and now we're back right in the heat of it with three in four nights. I hope these guys are smart enough to take advantage of this rest."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they visit the Bridgeport Islanders on Wednesday, April 1 at 10:30 a.m. at Total Mortgage Arena. Hershey returns home to host the Bridgeport Islanders on Saturday, April 18 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for Racing Night and Toyota License Plate Night, featuring a Bears license plate giveaway to the first 6,000 fans in attendance, courtesy of Toyota. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.