The Hershey Bears continued their strong play of late, defeating the Cleveland Monsters 6-3 and earning their third-straight victory.
The victory, combined with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 5-2 loss to Syracuse, clinched a first-round bye for the Bears in the playoffs.
The Bears got tallies from six different forwards on the night, including their top two goal-scorers on the season, Pierrick Dubé and Ethen Frank. The star wingers scored 2:24 apart in the first period to put the Bears up 3-1.
Dubé’s 26th of the season came on a tap-in.
Meanwhile, Frank scored his 23rd after an absurdly good carry-in by Mike Vecchione. Veccs found Joe Snively, who then found Frank driving the center lane.
The Bears also got tallies from Matt Strome, Jimmy Huntington, Henrik Rybinski, and Bogdan Trineyev to improve to 45-11-0-5 on the season. Fourteen different Hershey Bears skaters earned a point in the victory.
The Bears outshot the Monsters 39 to 25 on the night. Clay Stevenson earned his 21st victory after making 22 saves on the night.
Here were the Bears’ lines and pairings on the night.
Tonight's projected lineup against the Monsters 📝
Ethen Frank leads the Bears with seven points against the Monsters!
Catch today's broadcast:
📺@fox43️.2 (Antenna TV)
🖥️ https://t.co/HaxQBmLCRZ
📻@FroggyValley, @foxsports1460am pic.twitter.com/JOR5ciW677— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) March 22, 2024
And here are the full game highlights.
The Hershey Bears’ full press release is below:
BEARS DOUBLE UP MONSTERS, 6-3
Hershey secures first-round bye in 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs
(Cleveland, OH – March 22, 2024) – The Hershey Bears (45-11-0-5) spread out their offense as 14 skaters earned at least a point in a 6-3 victory over the Cleveland Monsters (35-20-3-4) on Friday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The win was Hershey’s third straight victory and fifth straight game with a point (4-0-0-1). With the win, Hershey has surpassed its win total from the 2022-23 regular season; the Bears have 11 games remaining in the 2023-24 campaign after tonight. The victory, coupled with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 5-2 loss to Syracuse, secured a first-round bye for Hershey for the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs. The win also reduced the Bears’ Magic Number for clinching the Atlantic Division title to nine points. Hershey improved to 3-0-0-0 against Cleveland in the regular-season series, with the series finale slated for tomorrow night.
Hershey struck early in the first period when Riley Sutter slid the puck over to Matt Strome at the left of the Cleveland net and the winger roofed his fifth of the season past a sprawled Jet Greaves at 4:51. Vincent Iorio added a secondary assist, extending all three skaters’ individual point streaks.
Alex Whelan answered moments later for the hosts when he beat Clay Stevenson at 6:02.
The Bears jumped back in front at 16:20 when a slick passing play ended with Pierrick Dubé burying his 26th of the season from Aaron Ness and Alex Limoges. The assist from Ness gave the defender his 169th career point (29g, 140a) for the Chocolate and White, passing Mike Gaul for sole possession of seventh in franchise scoring among defensemen.
Ethen Frank then made it 3-1 at 18:44 with a snap shot from the slot that gave Frank his 23rd of the season from Joe Snively and Mike Vecchione.
In the second period Jimmy Huntington widened the lead for the visitors with his 15th of the season as he stumbled in the slot and lofted the puck into the cage at 5:09.
The third featured some back-and-forth scoring, starting with a Monsters power-play goal from Jake Gaudet at 11:49.
Henrik Rybinski angled the puck into the net at 14:08 from Garrett Roe to restore the three-goal lead for the Bears.
Tyler Angle responded for Cleveland at 15:44, before Bogdan Trineyev capped the scoring with a shorthanded empty-net goal for Hershey at 19:56 from Rybinski and Lucas Johansen.
Shots finished 39-25 in favor of the Bears, matching a Hershey season-high for shots on goal. Stevenson got the win for the Chocolate and White with a 22-for-25 performance to earn his 21st victory of the season; Greaves took the loss for Cleveland with a 33-for-38 effort. The Bears went 0-for-1 on the power play; the Monsters went 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
