Bears Drop Third Straight, Fall 4-1 in Springfield

December 16, 2018

The Hershey Bears departed Springfield without a standings point for the first time in over a decade in a 4-1 loss to the Thunderbirds on Sunday afternoon at MassMutual Center. The regulation defeat marked the first by the Chocolate and White in Springfield since Mar. 8, 2008, ending a 15 game point streak.

Hershey entered with a 0-7-0-1 record in road games this season when yielding the first goal. At 6:09, the Thunderbirds drew first blood in the first period's lone goal. On the power play, Sebastian Repo received credit for his fourth goal of the season after a rebound in the blue paint squeaked past Vitek Vanecek. Shots after 20 minutes were 10-9 in favor of the Chocolate and White despite trailing. 

Next period, the Thunderbirds opened a 2-0 cushion on another power play strike. At 4:45, Anthony Greco buried a cross-ice feed from Joel Lowry to beat Vanecek moving to his left. Only 40 seconds later, Hershey cut their two-goal deficit in half after executing an offensive zone rush. On the rebound of a Juuso Ikonen shot, Grant Besse drove the net and appeared to tip the loose puck past Springfield goaltender Samuel Montembeault. Ikonen was credited for his second goal of the season on the play. Should the scoring be changed later, it would provide Besse his first goal as a member of the Bears.   

In the second half of the period, Springfield tallied twice more to grab a three-goal lead prior to second intermission. At 12:53, Greco scored his second of the night after chipping a rebound over Vanecek for his 14th goal of the season. At the 18:22 mark, Jake Horton chipped a loose puck on the backhand into the cage to give his club a 4-1 advantage. Shots after 40 minutes were 25-19 Bears. Neither team generated additional offense in the third period for the 4-1 final. The final shots on goal were 29-26 Hershey. The Bears power play finished the night 0-for-4, and the penalty kill ended the night 3-for-5. 

The Hershey Bears return to action on Wednesday, December 19 against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The Bears will look to snap a current eight game losing-streak at the PPL Center in Allentown. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Voice of the Bears Zack Fisch will have the call on the Bears Radio Network.