The first-place Hershey Bears did what was expected when facing the last-place team in the league: dominate. In their final game before the All-Star break, Hershey crushed the Bridgeport Islanders 4-0, outshooting the Bridgeport 28-25 in the matchup.
Goaltender Hunter Shepard earned his second shutout victory of the season and was selected as the First Star of the Game. Shepard made 25 saves against Bridgeport in his performance.
Goal scorers tonight for the Bears were Pierrick Dube, Aaron Ness (playing against his former team), Mike Vecchione, and Alex Limoges who was concurrently returning to the lineup from an upper-body injury.
Hghlights include the Bears’ third jerseys making their mid-season debut, featuring a beige body, chocolate brown on the pads area with a bear logo on the shoulder, and Hershey written in cursive on the front above the player’s number.
The Bears kicked off the home game at Giant Center by scoring twice in the first five minutes. The Bears’ leading goal scorer Pierrick Dube found the net first at 2:01.
Ivan Miroshnichenko passed the puck from behind the net to Dube in front, where he fired it past the goaltender. It’s his 24th of the season, retying Dube with Springfield Thunderbirds forward Adam Gaudette for the goal lead in the AHL.
Former Bridgeport captain Aaron Ness scored next for Hershey at 4:40.
Ness fired the puck from the left circle towards the net. Islanders’ goaltender Ken Appleby lost the puck in the traffic of two Bears and two Islanders in front of the net as the puck soared past into the goal.
On the other end of the ice, Shepard made 8 saves during the first including a blocker save on a breakaway to help the Bears hold their 2-0 lead through the period.
The Bears did not wait to strike in the second as Mike Vecchione found the net 4:02 into the second.
Mike Sgarbossa wrapped around the net and passed the puck through the legs of multiple Islanders players to Vecchione at the left circle. Vecchione then rocketed the puck through the five-hole to give the Bears a 3-0 lead. Vecchione of course had to celebrate the goal with his signature ‘ROAR’ and rile up even more the already hype Bears crowd in Giant Center.
Bridgeport finally managed to find the net 6:34 into the third period, but the play was ruled no goal as the puck was kicked into the net.
The Bears’ final goal came late in the third period from Alex Limoges, who had not played in a game since January 7th due to injury.
Joe Snively had the puck at the left circle and passed to Limoges who was rushing towards the net. Limoges fired the puck through the five hole, giving the Bears their 4-0 lead and eventual victory.
Here were the lines:
Tonight's projected lineup against the Islanders📝
Alex Limoges makes his return to game action!
Catch tonight's broadcast:
📺@fox43
🖥️ https://t.co/HaxQBmLCRZ
📻@FroggyValley, @foxsports1460am, @WOYK1350 (joined in progress), @CapitalsRadio pic.twitter.com/9Hmc6RxXNk— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) February 3, 2024
Below is the full Bears’ press release:
BEARS RIDE INTO ALL-STAR BREAK WITH 4-0 WIN OVER ISLANDERS
Hunter Shepard turns in 25-save shutout for Hershey
(Hershey, PA – Feb. 3, 2024) – Two early first-period goals and Hunter Shepard’s second shutout performance of the season helped power the Hershey Bears (36-8-0-2) to an eventual 4-0 win over the Bridgeport Islanders (13-25-5-0) in front of a Saturday night crowd of 10,583 at GIANT Center. The Bears head into the American Hockey League’s All-Star break atop the league standings, with a 13-point lead on the second-place Providence Bruins.
The victory gave Hershey its fifth straight home win, and Bears head coach Todd Nelson earned his 389th career head coaching victory in the AHL to move past former Hartford/Connecticut bench boss Ken Gernander (388) for sole possession of eighth on the AHL’s head coaching wins list.
The Bears concluded the regular-season series with Bridgeport with a 5-0-0-1 record.
It took just over two minutes for the Bears to find twine, as Pierrick Dubé netted his 24th of the season at the 2:01 mark of the first period on Hershey’s second shot of the game, as Ivan Miroshnichenko took hold of the puck behind the Bridgeport net and fed it out in front to Dubé, who shot it past Ken Appleby. Dubé is now tied with Springfield’s Adam Gaudette for the AHL’s goal-scoring lead.
Aaron Ness tallied at 4:40 with a flick of the wrist from the top of the left circle for his third of the season, from Joe Snively and Hendrix Lapierre, to make it 2-0.
Mike Vecchione beat Appleby for his 14th of the season with a shot through the five-hole at 4:02 of the second period to make it 3-0 off a pass from Mike Sgarbossa; Jake Massie earned a secondary assist.
Lapierre and Snively combined again to set up Alex Limoges’ goal at 16:10 to of the third period to cap the scoring. It was Limoges’ 11th of the season and came in his first game back after missing the previous nine games due to an upper-body injury.
Shots finished 28-25 in favor of the Bears. Shepard stopped all 25 shots he faced in the win for Hershey, his 18th of the season; Appleby took the loss for Bridgeport with a 24-for-28 effort. The Bears went 0-for-1 on the power play; the Islanders went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
