Recap: Hershey beats Hartford 4-1

The Hershey Bears, fresh off a loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, faced off Wednesday night in a game that featured the 3rd place Bears and last place Wolf Pack. Goals by Riley Barber (x2), Nathan Walker, and Jonas Siegenthaler spurred a 3rd period comeback. Ilya Samsonov anchored the crease with a strong performance, stopping 28 of 29 shots that he faced.

Quick notes…

1st period

Not much action in the first in terms of scoring. Samsonov faced several tough scoring chances that could have easily given the Wolf Pack a goal or two in the opening frame. Sloppy period from the Bears led to the last-place Hartford outshooting the Bears 12-4

2nd period

At the midway point of the second period, a Mike Sgarbossa slashing penalty led to a power play goal for Bridgeport. Tigers forward Gabriel Fontaine scored Hartford’s only goal with a nifty backhand that beat Samsonov between the pads. At the end of the 2nd, the Wolf Pack had outshot the Bears 19-14.

3rd period

After 2 periods of relatively anemic offensive play, team scoring leader Riley Barber kicked off the offensive explosion for the Bears. The Bears were given a power play opportunity at the midway point in the 3rd. A Nathan Walker pass to Barber on the back door easily found the net to even the score at one goal a piece.

24 seconds later, Jonas Siegenthaler floated a puck on net that snuck past Hartford goaltender Brandon Halverson. Numerous players in front screened Halverson, making it a difficult puck to track.

Hershey sensed blood in the water, and kept pushing pace and pressuring Hartford’s group. A misplayed puck by Halverson found its way right onto Barber’s stick, who placed the puck into the empty net for his 26th of the season. Barber tied his career high in goals at 26. With 19 games to play, its safe to assume that he’ll be setting a new career best here soon.

Hartford pulled Halverson for the extra attacker late, but Nathan Walker, who had assisted on the first Barber goal, ended any hope of a comeback with an empty net goal of his own.

With the win, Hershey moves to 67 points on the year, and closes out February with a league-leading 11-1-0 record. The Bears are now 6 points behind the Bridgeport Sound, and have two games in hand on the Tigers as we enter the last quarter of the season.

What’s Next?

The Bears return to the ice on Friday, March 1st on the road against a solid Utica Rockets team that has gone 6-4 in their last 10 games.

Misc.

Forward Devante Smith-Pelly played in his first game for Hershey after being sent down, and didn’t register a point. He skated on the team’s second line with Jayson Megna and Liam O’Brien.

Winger Shane Gersich moved up a line, slotting next to Sgarbossa and Barber on the top line.