The Hershey Bears (1-0) opened the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2-1) to take a 1-0 series lead in Game 1 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals in front of a crowd of 8,038 on Wednesday night at GIANT Center.
Hendrix Lapierre started the scoring for Hershey at 3:29 of the first period when he deflected Chase Priskie's shot from the blue line past Cal Petersen. Ethen Frank earned a secondary assist.
Henrik Rybinski extended the Hershey lead to 2-0, stuffing a loose puck past Petersen at 17:17 of the second period for his first career playoff goal after Bogdan Trineyev drove the net from the left wing, the puck glanced off of Matt Strome, and Rybinski stashed it home.
Tanner Laczynski got the Phantoms on the board at 15:28 of the third period with a shot that beat Hunter Shepard upstairs on the goaltender's glove-side.
Shots finished 31-28 in favor of the Phantoms. Shepard went 30-for-31 in the win for Hershey; Petersen took the loss for Lehigh Valley with a 26-for-28 effort. Both teams were assessed matching roughing minor penalties midway through the second frame, the only infractions during the game; this was the first Bears playoff game on record dating back to 1980 that did not feature a power play opportunity for either team.
The Bears continue the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs when they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Game 2 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals on Saturday, May 4 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.
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