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Jakub Vrana scores first goal with Springfield as Hershey secures 4-3 shootout win

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Jakub Vrana scored his first goal for Springfield Thunderbirds on Friday night. And it came against his longtime former AHL team.

Skating through the right circle, Vrana beat Bears goaltender Hunter Shepard 14:24 into the second period to narrow Hershey’s lead to 3-2.

The goal marked Vrana’s third point in three games for the Thunderbirds since being sent down to the AHL last week.

But the tally would not be enough as the Bears’ pulled out the victory 4-3 in the shootout.

The Bears were led on the night by Pierrick Dube who opened the game with his 15th goal of the season. Dube grabbed the puck from out of the corner and sniped a shot past Thunderbirds goaltender Vadim Zherenko 14:28 into the first period. The forward is now tied for second in AHL goals.

He would later go on to tally the game-winning shootout goal in Round 2 of the skills competition.

Jimmy Huntington and Ethen Frank scored the Bears’ other goals in regulation. After getting a gift from Zherenko, Frank scored his 13th goal of the season 11 seconds into the second period. Frank, who led the Bears in goals last season with 30, is now tied for sixth most in the AHL in goals.

Hunter Shepard made 34 saves in the win, giving him his 13th victory of the season

Here were the Bears’ lines:

And here are the full game highlights.

The Bears’ press release is below:

BEARS TOP THUNDERBIRDS 4-3 IN SHOOTOUT

Dubé scores in regulation and shootout for Hershey

(Springfield, MA – Dec. 22, 2023) – Pierrick Dubé scored in regulation and the shootout to lift the Hershey Bears (23-6-0-0) to a 4-3 shootout win over the Springfield Thunderbirds (14-9-2-1) on Friday night at MassMutual Center.

The win gave Hershey its eighth consecutive victory against Springfield and extended its point streak against the Thunderbirds to 12 games (10-0-2-0) dating back to Jan. 24, 2020.

BOX SCORE

Dubé opened the scoring for Hershey at 14:28 of the opening frame when he wheeled off the left half-wall and ripped a shot to the glove side of Vadim Zherenko for his team-leading 15th goal of the season, with assists to Alex Limoges and Jimmy Huntington.

Huntington extended Hershey’s lead to a pair of goals at 16:55 when he deflected Lucas Johansen’s shot from the point past Zherenko on the power play for his sixth of the season; Garrett Roe added a secondary assist.

Ethen Frank widened the lead for the Bears to three goals just 11 seconds into the middle stanza when Zherenko committed a turnover as Hershey dumped the puck into the offensive zone. That allowed Joe Snively to poke the puck over to Frank, who buried his 13th of the season to make it 3-0.

Springfield stopped the bleeding with a goal from Joseph Duszak at 13:54, and former Bear Jakub Vrana added a tally 30 seconds later at 14:24.

Zach Dean netted the tying goal for Springfield to make it 3-3 at 8:52 of the third period to level the score at 3-3, eventually forcing overtime.

In the sudden-death frame, Hunter Shepard made all three stops required of him, then in the penalty-shot contest, Dubé scored the winner for Hershey in the second round, while Shepard stonewalled Adam Gaudette in the third round to close out the win and secure the second point for the Bears.

Shots finished 37-36 in favor of the Thunderbirds. Shepard went 34-for-37 to earn his 13th victory of the season; Zherenko took the shootout loss for Springfield with a 32-for-35 effort. Hershey went 1-for-3 on the power play; the Thunderbirds went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Bears return to action for Berks Holiday Ham Shoot Night against the Providence Bruins at GIANT Center on Saturday, Dec. 23 at 7 p.m. All fans are welcome onto the ice postgame to take part in the Berks Holiday Ham Shoot.

Screenshot: @ThunderbirdsAHL/X

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