2024 Calder Cup Playoffs: Game 2, Lehigh Valley 1 - at Hershey - 5 (5/4/24)

HERSHEY, Pa. - The Hershey Bears have proved in their opening two playoff games this week that they are dialed in and hungry to get on the road to repeating their 2023 Calder Cup Championship.

A team that simply found ways in the regular season, the Bears have continued that mantra so far in the post-season - defeating Lehigh Valley 5-1 in Game 2 Saturday night to take a commanding 2-0 series lead in the best-of-three series with a chance to sweep their rival in Allentown on Wednesday night.

Hershey managed just 16 registered shots on goal in the contest, but got goals aplenty - kicked off by a pair of tallies in the first period by Ethen Frank.

Hunter McDonald scored his first career pro goal with 1:15 left before the first intermission to draw Lehigh Valley within a goal, but the Bears responded to restore their multi-goal lead 4:48 into the middle with the team's fourth line of Matthew Strome, Henrik Rybinski and Bogdan Trineyev providing the team a goal on Rybinski's second tally in as many games this postseason.

Alex Limoges and Hendrix Lapierre also tallied goals for the Bears in the win in a game that might have appeared more lopsided than the play between the two teams would suggest given the 5-1 final score.

Hunter Shepard was busy most of the night, stopping 30 of the 31 shots he faced - including a Bobby Brink penalty shot in the third period to prevent the Phantoms from gaining any momentum.

Cal Petersen stopped 11 of the 15 shots he faced in the loss.

GAME STORY

The first period was a period of momentum swings.

Lehigh Valley put pressure on Hershey in the opening minutes of the contest, generating consistent offensive zone pressure and racking up four of the game's first five recorded shots on net.

Credit to Shepard for making some tough stops right off the hop to keep the Bears in a scoreless game before Bears' captain Dylan McIlrath broke up a play in the Bears' defensive zone - springing Snively and Frank in transition.

Snively took the puck from McIlrath just across the Bears' defensive zone blue line, and zinged a cross-ice pass that caught a blazing Frank in stride through the neutral zone. Frank did the rest, beating the Phantoms defense to the net and roofing a backhander past Petersen to give Hershey a 1-0 lead 4:47 into the first frame.

Petersen made an absolutely ludicrous save on a Bears' 2-on-1 rush with 13:39 left in the opening period that, at the time, was a huge save that stalled the Bears' momentum from their tally less than two minutes prior.

Unfortunately for Lehigh Valley, the Bears onslaught just kept coming.

After Chase Priskie kept a puck in at the right point and wisely - and quickly - fired one toward the net, Snively and Frank went to work at the net-front again - with Frank tapping home a rebound for his second goal of the evening 8:18 into the game.

Despite being down 2-0 and taking back-to-back penalties in the middle part of the period, the Phantoms got back to their game similar to their strong start in the opening minutes of the contest - generating more consistent offensive pressure.

Lehigh Valley was rewarded for their efforts with 1:15 left before the first intermission, with McDonald finishing off a loose puck from the slot for his first career pro goal to draw the Phantoms within a goal entering  the middle frame.

The game's physical play and hitting picked up in the middle frame, and one of those big hits resulted in a goal moments later to extend Hershey's lead to 3-1 early in the period.

Adam Brooks attempted to standup Matt Strome's attempt to get to the net front during a sequence of Bears' pressure in the offensive zone, and the Bears' forward simply bowled over Brooks and set up a screen at the top of the crease just as Bodgdan Trineyev cut to the middle of the ice atop the left-wing circle for a shot that Rybinski got a piece of on its way past Petersen 4:48 into the middle frame.

The Phantoms responded with some pressure of their own, but later got into penalty trouble in the second half of the period - allowing the Bears' power play enough opportunities to break through for a man advantage tally with 4:36 left before the second intermission.

He won't get credit on the scoresheet, but Priskie settled a puck down at the center point and got it to Frank in the left-wing circle - who went cross-ice to Lapierre before Lapierre put it in the middle for a tap-in by Limoges atop the crease to give the Bears a commanding 4-1 lead heading to the third.

The Phantoms never quit, opening the third with several chances before Phantoms' captain Garrett Wilson took an unnecessary cross-checking penalty 5:51 into the stanza - negating any momentum his team was generating to begin the period.

Lehigh Valley out-shot Hershey by a 9-2 count in the third period, but the Bears bend-but-don't-break defense in the final frame - including timely saves from Shepard - allowed the Bears to preserve their 4-1 lead before Lapierre won a race to a loose puck with Petersen pulled for the extra attacker and muscled one into the empty net to complete the 5-1 final score.

Things got dicey in the final three minutes, especially after Phantoms alternate captain Louie Belpedio gave Pierrick Dube a late cross-check after a whistle while the Bears' forward was still on the ice resulting from the initial cross-check Belpedio was being penalized for.

That caused frustrations to boil over, resulting in a 5-on-5 scrum that saw 116 penalty minutes assessed as all players involved were given 10-minute misconduct penalties.

There was also a little scrum with 2.7 seconds left that saw Jimmy Huntington and Ronnie Attard wrestle each other to the ice and receive 10-minute misconduct penalties.

The officials let the final 2.7 seconds tick off the clock to prevent any further hostilities.

Lehigh Valley Phantoms Lineup Notes

Cal Petersen got the start in net for Lehigh Valley in Game 2, with Alexei Kolosov serving as the team's backup.

The Phantoms continued to roll out an 11-forward, seven defensemen lineup but there was one change from their Game 1 lineup as Elliot Desnoyers was out of the lineup.

Zayde Wisdom entered the lineup as one of two forwards on the team's fourth line with Jon-Randall Avon.

Scratches: Parker Gahagen, Felix Sandstrom, Adam Karashik, Will Zmolek, Ethan Samson, Mason Millman, Evan Polei, Massimo Rizzo, Tyler Gratton, Matt Miller, Samu Tuomaala, Jacques Bouquot, Matt Brown, Elliot Desnoyers

Lines/Pairings:

Olle Lycksell - Tanner Laczynski - Bobby Brink Adam Brooks - Rhett Gardner - Cooper Marody Garrett Wilson - Jacob Gaucher - Brendan Furry Jon-Randall Avon - xxxxxxxx - Zayde Wisdom

Adam Ginning - Ronnie Attard Emil Andrae - Louis Belpedio Hunter McDonald - Helge Grans Victor Mete

Cal Petersen (Backup: Alexei Kolosov)

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Hunter Shepard got the start in net for the Bears in Game 2, with Clay Stevenson serving as the team's backup goaltender.

The same 18 skaters took the ice for the Bears Saturday as they did in Game 1, but the forward lines were juggled a bit sans the fourth line trio of Matt Strome, Henrik Rybinski and Bogdan Trineyev

Bears Scratches: Garin Bjorklund, Mitch Gibson, Jake Massie, Nicky Leivermann, Vincent Iorio (injured), Tyson Empey, Riley Sutter (injured), Ryan Hofer, Dmitry Osipov, Andrew Cristall, Kevin O'Neil, Jon McDonald and Garrett Roe

Lines/Pairings:

Joe Snively - Hendrix Lapierre - Ethan Frank Alex Limoges - Mike Vecchione - Pierrick Dube Ivan Miroschnichenko - Jimmy Huntington - Matthew Phillips Matthew Strome - Henrik Rybinski - Bogdan Trineyev

Aaron Ness - Dylan McIlrath Lucas Johansen - Chase Priskie Hardy Haman Aktell - Logan Day

Hunter Shepard (Backup: Clay Stevenson)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

4:47: HER - Frank (1) - Snively, McIlrath 8:18: HER - Frank (2) - Snively, Priskie 8:21: LV - (PP) Brink, minor (tripping) 13:33: LV - (PP) Garnder, minor (high-sticking) 18:45: LV - McDonald (1) - Brooks, Grans

2nd Period

4:48: HER - Rybinski (2) - Trineyev, Strome 10:26: HER - (PP) Limoges, minor (delay of game) 13:11: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (interference) 15:11: LV - (PP) Marody, minor (hooking) 15:24: HER - PPG Limoges (1) - Lapierre, Frank 16:50: LV - (PP) Andrae, minor (holding)

3rd Period

5:51: LV - (PP) Wilson, minor (cross-checking) 7:51: HER - Trineyev, minor (roughing) 7:51: LV - McDonald, minor (roughing) 10:56: HER - (PP) Miroschnichenko, minor (holding) 14:15: HER - (PP) Lapierre, minor (slashing) 16:30: HER - ENG Lapierre (2) - Trineyev 17:03: LV - (PP) Belpedio, minor (elbowing) 17:03: LV - Belpedio, minor (cross-checking) 17:03: LV - Belpedio, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: LV - Avon, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: LV - Furry, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: LV - Gardner, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: LV - McDonald, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: LV - Wisdom, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: HER - Day, minor (roughing) 17:03: HER - Day, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: HER - Dube, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: HER - Aktell, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: HER - Limoges, ten-minute misconduct 17:03: HER - Vecchione, ten-minute misconduct 19:57: LV - Attard, ten-minute misconduct 19:57: HER - Huntington, ten-minute misconduct

BOXSCORE

Lehigh Valley   1 - 0 - 0 = 1 Hershey Bears  2 - 2 - 1 = 5

Shots

Lehigh Valley   14 - 8 - 9 = 31 Hershey Bears  9 - 5 - 2 = 16

Goalies

LV: Cal Petersen (11 saves - 15 shots) HER: Hunter Shepard (30 saves - 31 shots)

Power Play

LV: 0-for-3 HER: 1-for-7

Penalty Kill

LV: 6-for-7 HER: 3-for-3

Post-Game EXTRA!

Post-game interviews with Bears forwards Ethen Frank and Matt Strome below...