Sunday night in Hershey, the Bears won their second game in 24 hours after a goal and assist performance from top prospect, Jakub Vrana. After Brad Malone opened the scoring for the Bears in the first, Vrana would score the go-ahead goal in the second period off a nice takeaway and pass by Travis Boyd. At the end of the second period, Vrana would author a brilliant assist on the game-winning power play goal by Paul Carey.
The Bears held on to win the game behind 22 stops from netminder Vitek Vanecek.
Jakub Vrana goal
Jakub Vrana assist
Vitek Vanecek’s big saves
Full highlights
Game recap
(Hershey, PA – October 30, 2016) –Jakub Vrana notched a goal and an assist, and netminder Vitek Vanecek turned aside 22 shots as the Hershey Bears collected a 3-2 win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Sunday evening at the GIANT Center. The Bears won their second straight game and have collected standings points in five straight contests.
After Nic Aube-Kubel opened the scoring for Lehigh Valley at 14:38, Hershey would get a goal from Brad Malone to tie the game late in the first period. The forward rushed down the left wing on a partial breakaway. He kept the puck for himself and snapped a shot over the blocker of Phantoms netminder Anthony Stolarz at 17:26.
In the second period, the Bears would briefly take a 2-1 lead on Vrana’s fifth goal of the season at 5:29. Travis Boyd would fire a pass to the net where Vrana stood untouched. The forward beat Stolarz short side to give the Bears the lead.
After Colin McDonald scored on a turnover for Lehigh Valley at 9:35 of the middle frame, the Bears responded to take a 3-2 lead on the power play. With one Phantom already in the penalty box, Samuel Morin belted Hershey’s Boyd with a hit from behind and was sent to the box himself. The Bears took advantage of the 5-on-3 power play as Paul Carey scored his third goal of the season. Vrana collected the puck on the right wing and threw a pass to the backdoor. Carey redirected the puck from the top of the crease to score the eventual game-winning goal.
Neither team scored in the third period, but Vanecek saved the best of his 22 saves on the evening for early in the game’s final frame. After the netminder made two saves, the puck popped loose along the left wing. With a wide-open net, Vanecek dropped his stick and sprawled to his right, getting his right arm on a shot in a desperation effort.
The Bears outshot the Phantoms 33-24 in the contest. Hershey went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Phantoms were held to 0-for-5.
Sunday’s contest was Mixed-Up Productions Pink in the Rink Night. The Bears wore special pink jerseys in warm-ups that were auctioned off to raise money to help fight breast cancer.
Pictures from Pink the Rink
