Hershey Bears: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly 11/18/19

The Good

The streaks are over! Hershey got an even-strength goal in the 2nd period from Liam O’Brien just after time expired on a powerplay. Then, Mike Sgarbossa put the scoreless powerplay streak to bed with a man-advantage goal in the 3rd. “We’re uncomfortable with the results (lately),” said Carbery. “Everybody’s pissed off when we lose games...at the same time we’re doing a lot of good things in games that eventually it just has to work through.”

The Bad

Pheonix Copley went 1-1-1 on the week, earning an unusual shutout loss Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the shootout when Stefan Noesen scored the lone goal. Then Friday, Copley allowed a powerplay and even-strength goal in Hershey’s 3-0 loss to Charlotte. He returned to the crease Saturday for Hershey’s 2-1 victory over the Checkers. “He got put in a tough spot because we’ve been alternating back and forth every other night,” acknowledged Carbery. “With Vitek going up and him (Vitek) not being able to start last night (Friday), it gives him three-in-a-row. It’s been awhile since he’s done that since he obviously didn’t do that in Washington, so credit to him because that’s a unique spot for him to play Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.”

The Ugly

Charlotte, the second-most penalized team in the AHL gave Hershey five chances Friday and six chances Saturday, but the Bears came away with just one goal. O’Brien’s second period goal which came just after time expired though counted as powerplay initiated in Carbery’s mind. “The powerplay had its moments,” Carbery said Friday night. “I thought some (chances) were better than others...we’re getting into scoring chances...but we’re just not finishing. It’s really tricky as a coach; you try to focus on positives...we’ve got 20 guys who are really struggling.”

Head Coach Spencer Carbery

On the absence of Vanecek and Boyd from Friday’s lineup:

“Just precautionary. Vitek and Boyd - if they need to be used in Washington” said Carbery. The Capitals are without wiggle room against the salary cap, so much so, that they went with seven defensemen tonight, using Tyler Lewington as the seventh defenseman in a loss to Montreal. The worst-kept secret came to fruition Saturday when Boyd and Vanecek reported to Washington and Lewington returned to Hershey’s lineup Saturday. Samsonov was “reassigned” to Hershey to make room for Boyd’s salary just in time as Boyd recorded Washington’s first goal in a game that the Caps eventually won in the shootout.

Assessment at the Quarter Mark

Carbery said, “I think our structure, our attention to detail, everybody knows how we want to play. I think we’re top in the league in shots against. You’d expect to have a little bit better record when you’re that high...then you bring in the scoring deficiency that we’ve had lately and that’s why we are where we are and we have to work on that.”

On Riley Sutter

Carbery said, “It’s a really tough situation for a young player (to miss nearly the first quarter of the season due to injury). I think it (his play) will only get better.”