Ethen Frank led the way with three points and the Hershey Bears (2-0) took a 2-0 series lead in the Atlantic Division Semifinals with a 5-1 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-2) in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,520 on Saturday night at GIANT Center. The crowd marked 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).
Frank opened the scoring with his first of the postseason at 4:47 of the first period when the Bears transitioned from defense to offense, as Dylan McIlrath sent a pass out of the Hershey zone to Joe Snively, who sprang Frank for a breakaway, and the winger deked before putting a backhander past Cal Petersen.
Alex Limoges nearly made it 2-0 at 6:21 when he attempted to bury a pass from Ivan Miroshnichenko, but Petersen lunged across his goal line to make a smothering save.
Frank netted another goal at 8:18 from Snively and Priskie to put the Chocolate and White up by a pair.
Hunter McDonald put the Phantoms on the board at 18:45 when he chipped the puck past a screened Hunter Shepard.
Henrik Rybinski made it 3-1 at 4:48 of the second period when he deflected Bogdan Trineyev's shot from the left circle past Petersen for his second straight game with a postseason goal. Matt Strome also collected an assist.
Alex Limoges then gave Hershey a power-play goal at 15:24 when he redirected a centering feed from Hendrix Lapierre behind Petersen's glove side. Frank picked up a secondary helper, giving the forward his third point of the evening.
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 put the game away at 16:30 with an empty-net goal from Trineyev.
The match concluded with a pair of altercations at 17:03 and 19:57 which 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 continue the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs when they visit the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for Game 3 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals on Wednesday, May 8 at 7:05 p.m. at PPL Center. Fans in Central Pennsylvania can watch the televised broadcast on FOX43.2 Antenna TV, while fans in the Washington, D.C. market can catch the broadcast on Monumental Sports Network. Should a Game 5 be necessary, the Bears will host the Phantoms on Sunday, May 12 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.
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