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Thanks to Mike Vecchione’s late-game heroics, Hershey beats Rochester 4-2 and notches seventh-straight victory

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Mike Vecchione
📸: Tori Hartman/Hershey Bears

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The Hershey Bears defeated the Rochester Americans 4-2 Friday night in the first matchup between the teams this season. The Bears have won seven-straight games, outscoring their opponents 27-12 during the streak. Hershey is now an unbelievable 26-6-0 to start the season.

Mike Vecchione scored his biggest goal of the season to date, the game-winner with minutes left in regulation. Lucas Johansen, Mike Sgarbossa, and Bogdan Trineyev all chipped in tallies as well. Clay Stevenson started in net for the Bears and made 26 saves in the victory.

Johansen, who was recently demoted to Hershey from Washington, opened the scoring for the Bears 14:20 into the first period. Riley Sutter passed the puck to Johansen near the left circle, where he fired it past the netminder. The goal was his first of the season.

Moving into the second, Rochester scored just 24 seconds into the period, tying the game 1-1.

Midway through the second, Sgarbossa got the lead back for the Bears on the power play. Ethen Frank passed to Sgarbossa at the right circle, where he shot a one-timer past Americans’ goaltender Devin Cooley.

In the third period, former NHLer Tyson Jost scored a goal on Rochester’s own power play, tying the score 2-2 with 11:57 left in the game.

Bears assistant captain Vecchione broke the even score between the two teams with 5:47 remaining. Garrett Roe passed to Vecchione in the slot, where he shot the puck past the Americans’ netminder Devin Cooley.

Rochester pulled their goaltender with 1:44 left on the clock in an attempt to retie it, but Bogdan Trineyev added the empty netter, sealing the victory.

Here was the lineup for the game:

Here are the highlights:

Below is the full game recap via Hershey press release:

LATE HEROICS FROM VECCHIONE GIVES BEARS 4-2 WIN OVER AMERKS

Hershey earns seventh consecutive victory

(Rochester, NY – Dec. 29, 2023) – Mike Vecchione broke a 2-2 tie late in the third period to lift the Hershey Bears (26-6-0-0) to a 4-2 victory over the Rochester Americans (13-12-2-1) on Friday night at Blue Cross Arena.

The win was Hershey’s seventh consecutive victory; In addition to their 26 wins so far, the Bears’ 52 points in the standings is also the most by the club through its first 32 games of any season in its 86-year history of play in the AHL.

BOX SCORE

Lucas Johansen scored the opening goal for the Bears at 14:20 of the first period when Riley Sutter received a pass from Henrik Rybinski in the offensive zone and sent a feed from the right circle into the slot for Johansen, who buried a wrist shot past Devin Cooley for his first of the season.

Linus Weissbach tied it early in the second period for Rochester, as the Americans recovered the puck as Clay Stevenson attempted to play it, and Weissbach buried the puck 24 seconds into the frame.

Hershey took a 2-1 lead with a power-play goal at 11:57, as the Bears moved the puck back and forth in the offensive zone before Ethen Frank set up Mike Sgarbossa for an open net, allowing Sgarbossa to put home his sixth of the season. Joe Snively collected a secondary assist.

Tyson Jost tied the game at 2-2 with a power-play goal for the Americans at 8:03 of the third period.

Vecchione scored the eventual game-winner at 14:13 when Garrett Roe stole the puck at the Americans blue line on a Rochester breakout and found Vecchione, who skated through the slot and beat Cooley for his eighth of the season.

Vecchione and Roe then set up Bogdan Trineyev for an empty-net insurance marker – his fourth goal of the season – at 18:25 to close out the scoring.

Shots finished 34-28 in favor of the Bears. Stevenson went 26-for-28 to earn his 11th victory of the season, good for first in the AHL among rookies and tied for fifth overall; Cooley took the loss for Rochester with a 30-for-33 effort. Hershey went 1-for-2 on the power play; the Americans went 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

Headline Photo: Tori Hartman/Hershey Bears

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