Rapid Reaction: Recommitment to Full Effort Keys 6-1 Bears Win

After stressing the importance of needing a complete effort from the Hershey Bears following a 4-2 loss Friday to the Springfield Thunderbirds, Derek King got the result he wanted on Saturday in Hershey’s 6-1 victory.

“I thought we came out and played physical – we knew what we had to do,” King said following the win. “We managed the puck a lot better, and we played three solid periods.”

The Bears had to weather an initial flurry of shots from the Thunderbirds less than four minutes into the match, as Mitch Gibson came up stonewalled Chris Wagner on a breakaway and kicked out his left leg to deny Otto Stenberg on the rebound. On the ensuing breakout attempt, the Thunderbirds regained possession in the neutral zone, and Gibson managed to poke the puck away from Wagner and deny a point shot from Quinton Burns.

“That was huge. We knew we had to get a good start, and we did. But Gibby made some saves there to keep us alive in the game,” King said. “If those go in, maybe that takes the wind out of our sails, but he kept us in there and we just kept going.”

King was impressed with the play of Andrew Cristall, who entering Saturday’s game had paced the club with 10 assists but had yet to light the lamp. Cristall finally broke through with a one-timer from the right circle during a 5-on-3 power play at 14:26 of the first period, burying a Jonny Brodzinski feed past Will Cranley to give Hershey a 1-0 lead.

“I think sometimes hockey is a funny game,” Cristall said of his early-season struggles to match his goal-scoring production of last season. “I’ve had a lot of looks and just haven’t been able to crack it in the net. So now that this one’s out of the way, it definitely feels good, and hopefully a lot more to come. But glad to win tonight. I think we just played a really good 60 minutes. Last night’s second [period] was not our game, and when we got away from it and they managed to come back. So I think tonight we just stuck with it for the whole game, and we’re a really good team when we do that.”

At times this season, King has emphasized that the sophomore forward needs to continue to round out his game on both sides of the puck, for all of his offensive skill that led to a 60-point performance as a rookie last year.

“I think today he played a solid 200-foot game. He didn’t cheat the game trying to get points or get that goal,” King said. “He got the goal, which is nice, and then he could take a deep breath and just play hockey, and I thought he did a good job for us.”

Perhaps the loudest praise in the room was directed at veteran forward Dalton Smith. The 15th-year pro – back in the lineup for only his third game of the season due to the AHL’s developmental rule – took a pass from Grant Cruikshank, drove the net, and roofed a backhander past Cranley on Hershey’s first shot of the second period to give the Bears a 2-0 lead, and the eventual game-winner.

“I was able to get some space there heading to the net, and Cruiky made a great pass to me, and  I just tried taking it hard to the net and getting it elevated, and it went in,” Smith said. “Obviously I’m very happy to come in and contribute, and it was a great team effort all around. I think that was a pretty solid effort throughout, so we’re definitely happy with that.”

It was Smith’s first of the season, and his first game-winning tally in the AHL since the 2013-14 season, when he was in his second year of pro hockey and a member of the Springfield Falcons.

“The guys respect him. They respect what he does, and when he does stuff like that they’re pretty excited for him. I wish we could have him in the lineup every night, but that's just not feasible right now,” King said. “I was happy to see him score a big highlight goal like that. You could see it in the way the players congratulated him and they’ve got his back.”

Written by Bears media specialist Jesse Liebman

Photo credit: Springfield Thunderbirds/Nolan Lessard