Bears, Shepard Shutout Lehigh Valley, 4-0

March 2, 2025

Hunter Shepard made 21 saves and Hendrix Lapierre led the way with three points as the Hershey Bears (33-14-5-0) blanked the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (28-21-5-2) in a 4-0 victory win in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,520 on Sunday evening at GIANT Center, as the club continued its 2024-25 season, presented by Penn State Health.

The win marked both the third consecutive home win and third consecutive victory overall for the Bears. Hershey's record against Lehigh Valley improved to 4-2-1-0.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Ivan Miroshnichenko one-timed his 16th of the season past Keith Petruzzelli for a power-play goal at 8:03 of the first period to open the scoring. The goal marked Miroshnichenko's third consecutive game with a goal (4g). Miroshnichenko later assisted on Hendrix Lapierre's goal to record his second consecutive multi-point game and eighth multi-point game of the season.
• Lapierre extended his point streak to six games by assisting on Miroshnichenko's first-period goal. Lapierre then netted his fourth of the season at 13:01 to give Hershey a 2-0 edge, and assisted on Vincent Iorio's goal in the third period. Lapierre has 11 points (4g, 7a) in his last six contests.
• Dalton Smith scored his first as a Bear to give Hershey a 3-0 lead at 4:42 of the second period.
• Ethan Bear assisted on Miroshnichenko's and Smith's goals, giving the defenseman his second straight game with a pair of assists, and his eighth multi-point game of the campaign.
• Bears forward Garrett Roe skated in his 200th career AHL game; Roe assisted on Smith's goal to collect his 99th career AHL point.
• Hunter Shepard made 21 saves to earn his 74th career win with Hershey to move into a tie with Braden Holtby for eighth in franchise history. The shutout was also his second of the season and his 10th career clean sheet with the Bears to move into a tie with Peter Budaj for 10th in franchise history.

SHOTS: HER 29, LV 21

GOALTENDING: HER - Hunter Shepard, 21-for-21; LV - Keith Petruzzelli, 25-for-29

POWER PLAY: HER - 1-for-5; LV - 0-for-4

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Todd Nelson on what he liked about the team's performance:
"Just the way we worked. We knew that Lehigh would probably be a bit tired. It was their third game in three nights, so we wanted to take advantage of that and it's a game that we felt that we should win. And so the guys had a killer instinct; their goalie made some really big saves too. But we got the job done. But I like the fact that how we're playing in the offensive zone and I still think we can shoot more. We passed up a few shots and two-on-ones tonight, but all in all it was a pretty good offensive effort from our team."

Hendrix Lapierre on his chemistry on a recently-formed line with Alex Limoges and Ivan Miroshnichenko and how he feels where his game is at:
"I thought playing in the O-zone, Limo's a super-smart player, makes really good plays, Miro always finds the open spots, so I feel like we compliment each other pretty well. These last couple weeks have been good, there's stuff that I have to work on and I'm trying my best to do that every day and to get another shot in the NHL. So we'll see what happens. But I've been feeling really good about my game."

Hunter Shepard on his teammates' play in front of him:
"The guys played really good in front of me and limited the quality chances. [Lehigh Valley] had a couple right away on the power play in the first period and when you make a save on one of those quality chances early in the game, usually that gets you into the game. And I kind of just settled in after that; I didn't have to do a whole lot. Like you said, my rebounds were good today, but when there were second opportunities, I had help and I think with the shutout, probably 95% of the time there's either a little bit of luck involved or - like you can't do it on your own at this level or at the next level - like very rarely. So it's a team thing I think when there's a shutout, so the guys in the last two nights have been really good on the back end."

Dalton Smith on scoring his first goal in a Bears uniform and if his shot selection on the goal is typical for him:
"Yeah, it's special. This is a great organization, so many good players and amazing fans. So just to get the first one was really special and it was a heck of a play by [Bear] and I just tried to get the shot through and it went in - it was awesome. Definitely no - that's a little bit of a rarity of my game, but I thought I'd try it and it worked out pretty good."

NEXT GAME:

The Bears continue the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Belleville Senators on Wednesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for GIANT Reusable Grocery Tote Night. The first 4,000 fans will receive a reusable grocery tote, thanks to GIANT. The game will also be a Berks Dollar Dog Night, featuring $1 Berks hot dogs at select concession stands. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.