The Hershey Bears (1-1-0-1) concluded their 2024 preseason slate with a 4-2 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (1-1-0-0) on Saturday night at PPL Center.
Jon-Randall Avon gave Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead late in the first period with a power-play strike that beat Clay Stevenson at the 17:06 mark.
The Bears swapped Stevenson out for Mitch Gibson to begin the second period, ending Stevenson's night after going 9-for-10 in 20 minutes of work.
Mike Vecchione beat Alexei Kolosov to level the score at 2:40, with Luke Philp and Hudson Thornton assisting on the play.
The Phantoms went ahead on goals from Garrett Wilson (4:57), Brendan Furry (10:55), and Matthew Brown (12:59).
With Hershey maintaining possession in the offensive zone in the third, Hardy Haman Aktell called for a pass as he crossed the blue line and snapped a feed from Zac Funk past Kolosov at 11:05 for his first of the preseason, trimming the deficit to 4-2; Alexander Suzdalev contributed a secondary helper.
The Bears pulled Gibson for an extra skater with less than three minutes to play in regulation, but were unable to close the gap.
Shots finished 32-22 in favor of the Phantoms. Gibson finished with a 19-for-22 performance in the loss; Kolosov picked up the victory for Lehigh Valley by going 20-for-22. The Bears went 0-for-2 on the power play; the Phantoms went 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Bears open the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.
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