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Hershey Bears take 1-0 series lead over Charlotte Checkers after first career playoff goals by McMichael, Lapierre, and Protas

By Ian Oland

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April 28, 2023 9:56 pm

The Hershey Bears defeated the Charlotte Checkers 5-2 in Game One of their Eastern Conference semifinal matchup on Friday. The Bears now hold a 1-0 series lead over Charlotte in the best-of-five series. Charlotte hosts one more game on Saturday night before the next three (if necessary) are played at Giant Center.

The Bears were led by its young stars Aliaksei Protas, Hendrix Lapierre, and Connor McMichael, who all tallied their milestone first-career AHL postseason goals in the contest.

The Bears’ first goal of the playoffs was appropriately scored by Mike Vecchione – the inventor of the team’s epic ROAR celebration.

Vecchione started the scoring 14:12 into the first after a slick passing play with Michael Sgarbossa along the boards. Sgarbossa fired the puck at the net and Vecchione deflected the puck past Checkers goaltender Mack Guzda. Upon review, the goal was confirmed.

Vecchione did his signature celebration as he skated over to the bench as captured by the Checkers’ photography team.

The Bears weren’t finished. Two minutes and 31 seconds later, Aliaksei Protas scored his first career playoff goal after a brilliant individual play in front of the net. The hulking forward took a back pass from Hendrix Lapierre and carried the puck into the slot on his backhand. Then he unleashed a shot on his forehand from point-blank range easily beating Guzda.

Lapierre made it 3-0 two minutes and six seconds into the second period after a fortunate bounce. After taking a slick cross-ice pass from Vincent Iorio, Lapierre sent a centering pass to Protas in the slot. The Belorussian forward could not get his stick on the feed but the puck redirected off a Checkers defender and in.

Guzda was pulled by Checkers head coach Geordie Kinnear for Jean-Francois Berube after the goal, but that did not stop the bleeding.

Connor McMichael made it 4-0 a minute and 57 seconds later with a breakaway goal after a brilliant setup pass by Garrett Pilon, hitting the Capitals’ top prospect in stride. (He ROAR’d too after the goal.)

Charlotte would respond with two tallies from Lucas Carlsson and Santtu Kinnunen to close the gap to 4-2, but their comeback ended there. Michael Sgarbossa hit the empty net with six seconds remaining to end the scoring.

Notes: The Bears scored on three of their first seven shots. Hunter Shepard stopped 22 of 24 shots for the victory. McMichael led all Bears players with four shots on goal. Vincent Iorio and Sam Anas both registered two assists in the victory. Hershey got a bye in the first round of the playoffs and this was their first game in approximately two weeks. Here were their lines headed into the game.

Headline photo: Charlotte Checkers

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