HERSHEY, Pa. — The Hershey Bears are one win away from advancing to the next round of the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs.
Ethen Frank totaled his goal output from last year's playoffs in the first period and led the way for the Bears 5-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Saturday night.
Frank also added an assist later in the game for a three point night. His efforts vaulted him up the AHL's postseason scoring list into a tie for 11th with 4 points total.
Joe Snively (2 assists) and Hendrix Lapierre (1 goal, 1 assist) added to the big night for Hershey's first line.
Frank said he's trying to be more consistent this postseason compared to last year. "I'm just trying to go out there with a different mentality and just work hard, win battles," Frank said.
The Bears fourth line was a factor for the second straight game. Bogdan Trineyev (2 assists), Henrik Rybinski (1 goal), and Matt Strome (1 assist) all got on the score sheet again.
After the game, Strome said he wants his line to keep playing hard. "We've got some good chemistry right now. We're all just trying to play simple, be hard on the forecheck, and do what our fourth line did last year," Strome said.
Hunter McDonald scored the lone goal for the Phantoms at 18:45 of the first period. He chipped the puck past a screened Hunter Shepard.
Rybinski made it 3-1 at 4:48 of the second period when he deflected Trineyev’s shot from the left circle past Phantoms' goaltender Cal Petersen.
Alex Limoges scored on the power-play at 15:24.
The Phantoms had a chance to claw away at Hershey’s lead at 12:27 of the third period when a scramble in front of the net of Shepard led to a Bears player covering the puck in the crease, resulting in a penalty shot. Bobby Brink curled through the right circle and snapped a shot that was kicked out by the right pad of Shepard to preserve the 4-1 lead for the hosts.
Lapierre sealed the victory for Hershey at 16:30 with an empty-net goal.
The play got chippy and physical towards the end of the game. A pair of incidents at 17:03 and 19:57 led to multiple players on both teams receiving unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, accounting for 146 combined penalty minutes, and 158 combined penalty minutes in total.
Shots finished 31-16 in favor of the Phantoms. Shepard went 30-for-31 in the win for Hershey; Petersen took the loss for Lehigh Valley with an 11-for-15 effort. The Bears went 1-for-7 on the power play; the Phantoms went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
The Bears picked up the win in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,520. It's the the largest single-game home attendance for a first or second round playoff game for Hershey since Game 2 of the East Division Semifinals against Bridgeport on April 16, 2010 (10,112).
Hershey and Lehigh Valley meet again for game three of the Atlantic Division Semifinals Wednesday in Allentown. The game is at 7pm and can been seen on FOX43.2 Antenna TV and Monumental Sports Network.