Hershey Bears

Bears Defeat Checkers, 3-2, In Shootout

Hershey defeats Charlotte in come back fashion, 3-2 in a shootout.  Jonas Siegenthaler scores in his return while Vitek Vanecek generated 32 saves in the victory.  Point streak for Hershey runs to 11 games (10-0-0-1).

For live updates on Hershey Bears home games please follow Cory Lyons on Twitter at @CoryLyonsAHL.

 

The Hershey Bears (24-20-0-3) welcome in the Charlotte Checkers (32-12-6-0) for a weekend series at the Giant Center.  The Bears are hot of late, getting points in their last ten games (9-0-0-1) while the Checkers are going in the opposite direction in their last ten games (4-3-3-0).

Jonas Siegenthaler was sent down from the Washington Capitals and will play his first game in Hershey since November 4th when the Bears played the Hartford Wolfpack.

 

1st Period:

Both teams started the game with a lot of speed and great neutral zone defense.  Vitek Vanecek did stop a small breakaway early to keep the game tied at 0-0.

Charlotte opened the games scoring while on the power play when Checkers captain Patrick Brown scored his tenth goal of the season.  The puck was cycled down low to Andrew Poturalski who then drove the puck to the crease.  Brown crashed the net and the puck some how went under Vitek Vanecek’s pads and into the net.  Charlotte took a 1-0 lead.

 

The Bears had their fair share on power plays, but Checkers goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made it incredibly difficult for Hershey to enter the zone.  Nedeljkovic kept leaving the crease to stop all dump in chase plays, creating a challenge for the Bears to figure out while in the locker room after the first period.

 

1st Period Shots: HER – 5, CHA – 7

 

1st Period Scoring:

14:59 – CHAPatrick Brown(10) ASST: Andrew Poturalski(30), Janne Kuokkanen(21)(PP)

 

2nd Period:

Hershey did a great job adjusting strategy while entering the offensive zone during the second period.  The Bears also picked up the speed and forechecking to counter Nedeljkovoic’s puck handling behind the net.

Hershey was rewarded half way through the period when strong forechecking by Jayson Megna and Shane Gersich lead to the puck finding its way to the point and on Siegenthaler’s stick.  Siegenthaler threw the puck on net, beating Nedeljkovoic and evening the score 1-1.

 

 

Vitek Vanecek went on to make a great save at the end of the period, boosting the crowd to be excited for the start of the third period.

 

2nd Period Shots: HER – 12, CHA – 10

 

2nd Period Scoring:

8:47 – HERJonas Siegenthaler(1) ASST: Shane Gersich(10), Jayson Megna(12)

 

3rd Period:

Hershey put themselves in a tough position for most of the third period.  Penalty after penalty made it tough to get anything out of the defensive zone.  The Checkers made sure the Bears paid with a power play goal by Jake Bean.  Bean took the shot from the point and the puck found its way past Vitek Vanecek.  Charlotte took a 2-1 lead with less than eight minutes left to play in the third period.

 

Hershey had a rough time entering the offensive zone once again but found some luck with the Vanecek pulled.  Riley Barber scored his 20th goal from the corner of the rink.  The puck took a very interesting bounce that somehow beat Alex Nedeljkovic with just over a minute to play in the game.

The point streak was kept in tact and the game went into overtime, tied 2-2.

 

3rd Period Shots: HER – 4, CHA – 16

 

3rd Period Scoring:

12:48 – CHAJake Bean(10) ASST: Morgan Geekie(13), Martin Necas(20)(PP)

18:24 – HERRiley Barber(20) ASST: Aaron Ness(29), Nathan Walker(9)

 

Overtime:

Both teams had their fair share of chances but the Checkers had two of the best.  Both were breakaways that Charlotte missed the net on both due to the great positioning from Vitek Vanecek.

The game went into a shootout.

 

Overtime Shots: HER – 1, CHA – 0

 

Shootout:

HER: Riley Barber – X

CHA: Morgan Geekie – X

HER: Shane Gersich – X

CHA: Martain Necas – X

HER: Mike Sgarbossa – X

CHA: Nick Schilkey – X

HER: Jayson Megna – X

CHA: Aleksi Saarela – X

HER: Nathan Walker – O

CHA: Janne Kuokkanen – X

 

The Hershey Bears defeat the Charolette Checkers 3-2 in a shoot out!

Three Stars: 

  1. HER: Vitek Vanecek (32 saves)
  2. HER: Nathan Walker (1 assist, SO winner)
  3. HER: Jonas Siegenthaler (1 goal)

 

Official Box Score: https://theahl.com/stats/game-summary/1019078

 

Photos courtesy of Cory Lyons.  Please follow him on Twitter at @CoryLyonsAHL or Instagram at @CoryLyonsPhoto.

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