Bears Finished Weekend Strong To Further Bolster Their Playoff Position

HERSHEY, Pa - Sometimes it’s not how you start, but how you finish.

Such was Week 27 for Hershey as the Bears fell Friday night in Allentown, 4-1 (Mike Vecchione scored against one of his former teams), but rebounded in spectacular fashion with a pair of victories over then-Atlantic Division leading Springfield Saturday and Sunday night at Giant Center.

Saturday night, Scott Allen remarked, "There was a message, and it was just little reminders. I felt that our game had slipped slightly recently. And that's, you know, we're a team [where] the margin of error is very slim for our team. That's just who we are. That's where we're at. And that's fine. You can still find ways to win with who you are and what you are. And that's what we had to do - get back to our identity."

Saturday was milestone night as both Dylan McIlrath and Cody Franson hit the century marks (more below) while Vecchione and Aliaksei Protas both recorded three-point games to help Hershey to a 5-2 victory over visiting Springfield.

After the Thunderbirds scored a powerplay goal, McIlrath fired a shot from the point, recording his 100th AHL point. Later in the period, Protas recorded his seventh goal of the season to give the Bears a lead they would never relinquish.

In the second, Garrett Pilon setup Shane Gersich, but Springfield cut the lead to a goal before the second period ended.

In the third, it was all Hershey as Vecchione tallied his second goal of the weekend early in the period before Franson scored a power play goal for his 100th professional goal to round out the scoring.

Phoenix Copley made 25 stops in net for Hershey.

While many coaches refer to the 2-goal lead as the worst lead in hockey, Allen feels a bit differently, "I will take any lead, especially this year - goals don't come easy for us. So yeah, I just I'd much rather play with the lead and play from behind," he told InsideAHLHockey.com Saturday night.

In the rematch on Sunday, Gersich tallied just 36 seconds into the contest to give the Bears an early lead and Mason Morelli added a goal before the end of the first period to extend the lead to 2-0.

In the second, Springfield cut the lead to a goal and went on to tie the game in the third, forcing overtime.

In the OT, Gersich raced up ice and dropped the puck to a trailing Morelli for the game-winner. Fucale earned the victory between the pipes for Hershey with 24 saves.

"It was gonna be a tough weekend," Allen said, adding, "we knew it was certainly gonna be a tough Sunday, especially against a team that's been atop the division since the beginning of the season, and they'd already lost this weekend, including last night to us, obviously. And I'm sure there was pressure in that room, not to lose the weekend. And I give guys a ton of credit, especially in a sense that sometimes when we score early in the game, it doesn't hold for us. And it did today."

Special Teams Weekly Recap

Hershey PP was 2-for-10 (Vecchione Friday; Franson - Saturday)

Hershey PK was 5-for-7

Three Things

1. Playoff Push

With just seven games remaining on the schedule, the Bears are making one final push for a Calder Cup Playoff berth.

"Yeah, we're stressing where we're at right now," said Allen. "We're not trying to sugarcoat anything. We know the value and the importance of each and every game."

Hershey is currently sitting in 4th place with hard-charging Wilkes-Barre/Scranton just behind in 5th.

As has been the case this year, Hershey does play better at home than on the road, and if the Bears want to preserve home ice advantage for at least one round, the best way to make that a reality will be to beat the Penguins on the road in two of the team's final seven games.

2. 100 Points for McIlrath

Less than a minute after Springfield scored to take a 1-0 lead Saturday, McIlrath responded with his 27th AHL goal to tie the game. The defenseman also has 73 career AHL assists.

After the game, McIlrath told InsideAHLHockey.com, "Honestly, I wasn't thinking about the milestone. It just felt good to get off the snide I had been on for awhile. I've gotten a goal to help the team offensively, so that was more on my mind and then heard them announce it and remember it. Yeah, it was special (to) hit a milestone."

3. 100 Goals for Franson

Late in the third period of Saturday’s game, Franson became the second Bear to topple a milestone with a powerplay goal for his 100th professional goal. Per Zack Fisch’s release, Franson scored 46 goals in the AHL, 43 in the NHL, eight in the KHL, and three in Sweden.

Afterwards, Franson admitted he hadn't even been keeping track.

"I didn't even know that it was my 100th goal," he told InsideAHLHockey.com after the game. "I got a bunch of texts from my mom and grandma and a bunch of others back home. And that's how I found out."

Quotables

Scott Allen on putting their best foot forward, and going from there

"[Hockey] is a game of mistakes. Mistakes do happen throughout the course of the game. It's impossible to play mistake free. Little individual breakdowns will be easy fixes on our end, and we will fix them. I'm not going to say we won't make those mistakes again, because like I just said, that's the game, but we'll be better for them," said Allen.

Kody Clark on the milestone clinching (3000th win) goal

"At that point, I didn't even realize it was the 3000th because we had kind of talked about a couple games before and then we didn't win. So, at that point, I was just happy we won that game."

Cody Franson on being a hockey Dad on the road

“FaceTime gets used a lot but usually after the first day or two, they don't really have too much attention to want to talk to you. So, the longer road trips can get tough now with three little ones that want to play all the time. My wife's a rock star - she spends a ton of time with the kids. Game days it's basically like we're on the road anyways, because you gotta go to the rink and eat and then nap and then get ready to go back to the rink. [For a] seven o'clock game, I leave the house at like 3:45, so I can see the kids for a couple hours on game day."

New Faces

With the NCAA men's ice hockey season officially over with the national championship game now in the rear view mirror, AHL teams have been adding talent from the collegiate ranks over the past few weeks.

On Monday, Hershey announced they signed this season's leading NCAA goal-scorer - 24-year-old Western Michigan University forward Ethen Frank - to an AHL contract that begins next season (2022-23). Frank, who led the NCAA this past season with 26 goals in 38 games, is joining the Bears for the remainder of the 2021-22 season and the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs on an amateur tryout contract -- which should help provide the organization with a little more scoring punch with forwards Michael Sgarbossa, Brian Pinho and Matt Moulson all sidelined with injuries.

The Road Ahead

Hershey heads back to Allentown on Wednesday night before traveling to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Friday night.

The Bears return to Giant Center for an Easter Evening matchup with the Providence Bruins.

Hershey’s remaining four games come the following week with a return trip to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Tuesday (April 19), a return trip to Allentown Friday (April 22), and then home contests with the Flyers' AHL affiliate next Saturday (April 23) and Syracuse next Sunday (April 24).

Milestone Alert

With franchise victory #3000, Franson’s 100th goal and McIlrath’s 100th point all surpassed in one calendar week, sights turn to another goal - securing a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs.

Hershey’s milestone marker (magic number, but the other way fits this category better) is 9. They have seven games remaining, so Allen’s famous "Control the controllable" really comes into play here.