Bears Suffer 5-1 Loss to Phantoms

February 4, 2023

Aliaksei Protas scored the lone goal for the hosts, while Jackson Cates found the net twice and Bobby Brink put up three points for the visitors as the Hershey Bears (29-11-4-1) fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (22-17-3-2) by a 5-1 score on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

The Bears head into the AHL All-Star break atop the Atlantic Division standings, and second overall on the circuit.

BOX SCORE

The first period had the hallmarks of a Keystone State clash between Hershey and Lehigh Valley, as a drive to the net by the Phantoms led to a skirmish involving several players at 13:45 that resulted in a handful of infractions being assessed and put the Bears on the man advantage.

On the subsequent power play, Mike Sgarbossa sent the puck across the slot to Ethen Frank, whose shot rebounded off the pads of Samuel Ersson and was collected by Protas. The forward stashed the puck on his backhand into the back of the cage for his second of the season at 14:13.

The Phantoms tied the score at 1-1 early in the second period when Max Willman fed Cates in the slot from beneath the goal line and Cates fired a shot that beat Hunter Shepard at 2:21.

Lehigh Valley then took a 2-1 lead at 8:16 during a 5-on-3 man advantage when Tyson Foerster snapped a shot from the high slot behind Shepard as the screened goaltender was moving laterally.

The Phantoms extended the lead to 3-1 at the 2:55 mark of the third, as Jordy Bellerive’s wrister from the left flank deflected off the far post and in.

Brink added a power-play goal at 16:49, and Cates capped the scoring with a shorthanded empty-netter at 19:44.

Shots finished 29-23 in favor of the Phantoms. Shepard went 24-for-28 for Hershey in the loss; Ersson was 22-for-33 for Lehigh Valley. The Bears were 1-for-4 on the power play; the Phantoms finished 2-for-3 with the man advantage.

Hershey continues the 2022-23 season, presented by Penn State Health, when the Chocolate and White visit the Utica Comets at the Adirondack Bank Center on Friday, Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. The Bears are back home at GIANT Center the following night when they host the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. for PSECU Knit Cap Night, featuring a Bears knit cap for the first 4,000 fans in attendance, courtesy of PSECU. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.