The Hershey Bears (3-1) advanced to the Atlantic Division Finals with a 5-3 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-3) in Game 4 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals on Saturday night at PPL Center. Hershey improved to a lifetime 17-12 against the Phantoms franchise in the postseason, and 5-1 against the Phantoms in all-time playoff series.
Lehigh Valley struck first at 9:01 of the first period when Hunter Shepard made an initial scorpion pad save on Brendan Furry but Rhett Gardner batted in the rebound.
Hershey answered quickly on the ensuing shift, as Chase Priskie rimmed the puck up the boards to Ivan Miroshnichenko, who raced in and beat Cal Petersen at 9:18 for his first goal of the Calder Cup Playoffs.
The Phantoms went ahead 2-1 at the 12:18 mark when Garrett Wilson's shot from the edge of the zone glanced off of Shepard's glove and bounced into the net.
The Bears leveled the score at 15:08 as Pierrick Dube wired a shot from between the circles past Petersen for his first of the playoffs. Logan Day and Hardy Haman Aktell assisted on the tally.
Miroshnichenko struck again early in the second to give Hershey its first lead of the night when he snapped a shot past the glove of Petersen at 2:36. Dube earned an assist on the goal.
Ethen Frank put Hershey up 4-2 with a power-play goal from the left circle at 10:57 for his third of the playoffs. Joe Snively and Hendrix Lapierre contributed assists.
Tanner Laczynski pulled Lehigh Valley to within a goal of Hershey at 16:17 of the second period.
Haman Aktell gave Hershey some much-needed insurance at 14:52 of the third period after a rush attempt between Miroshnichenko and Mike Vecchione was stonewalled by Petersen, but Day recovered the puck and found Haman Aktell in the slot with his first of the postseason.
With Petersen pulled late, the Bears nearly added an empty-net tally from Vecchione at 18:16, but the goal was called back as a result of a hand pass.
Shots finished 32-27 in favor of the Phantoms. Shepard went 29-for-32 for his third win of the postseason; Petersen went 22-for-27 in the loss for Lehigh Valley. The Bears went 1-for-4 on the power play; the Phantoms went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
The Bears next take the ice in Game 1 of the best-of-five Atlantic Division Finals against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. Tickets for this game and all Bears home games during the Atlantic Division Finals will go on sale via Ticketmaster starting on Sunday, May 12 at 10 a.m.
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