As the Hershey Bears crushed the Cleveland Monsters for the second-straight night, they made some history in the process.
The Bears shut out the Monsters 5-0 to give Hunter Shepard his fourth clean sheet of the season. The victory marked Hershey’s 11th shutout of the 2023-24 season, breaking the franchise’s single-season shutout record. Hershey’s other primary starter this year, Clay Stevenson, has a league-leading seven shutouts all by himself.
The Bears’ previous single-season shutout record was 10, set during the 2014-15 season by Phillip Grubauer (6), Phoenix Copley (3), and Justin Peters (1).
The Bears took control of the game with a dominant third period where they scored four goals. All four tallies occurred within eight minutes and 40 seconds of game time, with three coming on Hershey power plays.
After getting a goal from Matt Strome with 25 seconds left in the scone period, the Bears came out firing in the third to put the Monsters away.
Ethen Frank scored first, giving him goals in three consecutive games. On a five-on-three power play, Frank blasted a shot from just outside the right circle to beat Monsters goaltender Malcolm Subban. The tally marked Frank’s 24th of the season.
Alex Limoges was next to pot one past Subban. After Joe Snively fired a slap pass towards the crease, Limoges redirected the puck home, giving him his third consecutive 20-goal season.
After assisting on the previous two goals, Snively finally got one of his own with less than eight minutes to go. Logan Day got the puck along the boards and passed to Snively at the left circle, where he rocketed the puck past Subban.
Limoges, playing in his 200th AHL game, would find the net a second time with just 1:45 left in the game. Frank fired the puck from the left circle and Limoges deflected the biscuit into the net for his second redirect goal of the night.
Snively would earn First Star of the Game for notching three points (1g, 2a) on the night. Shepard was named Third Star after making 20 saves in the shutout victory.
Inside the locker room, Shepard and Stevenson posed together with a game puck, celebrating the franchise record they shattered.
With tonight’s 20-save performance (his second-straight clean sheet and fourth of the season), Hunter Shepard and teammate Clay Stevenson have combined to set a new Hershey Bears franchise single-season record with their 11 combined shutouts in the 2023-24 campaign. pic.twitter.com/HpinYeebWS
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) March 24, 2024
The netminding duo has been very difficult to score on this season. Stevenson has a .928 save percentage while Shepard’s stopping shots at a .923 clip, ranking first and third in the AHL respectively.
Hershey currently leads the AHL with 97 points — sitting 14 points above the second-place Coachella Valley Firebirds — and have already secured a first-round bye in the postseason thanks to a win against Cleveland Friday night. Their next matchup is Tuesday, March 26th against the Providence Bruins.
Here were the lines:
Tonight's projected lineup against the Monsters 📝
Logan Day slots back into the lineup – he has one assist in eight career games against Cleveland!
Catch today's broadcast:
📺@fox43️.2 (Antenna TV)
🖥️ https://t.co/HaxQBmLCRZ
📻@FroggyValley, @foxsports1460am, @CapitalsRadio pic.twitter.com/6O1KBL73ty— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) March 23, 2024
Below is the full Bears’ press release:
BEARS SHUT DOOR ON MONSTERS IN 5-0 WIN
Frank and Snively enjoy three-point nights, Shepard earns second consecutive shutout
(Cleveland, OH – March 23, 2024) – The Hershey Bears (46-11-0-5) put on an impressive offensive display with four goals – including three with the man advantage – in the third period en route to a 5-0 win over the Cleveland Monsters (35-21-3-4) on Saturday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Ethen Frank and Joe Snively led the way with a goal and two assists each, while Alex Limoges netted a pair of goals in his 200th professional game.
Goaltender Hunter Shepard stopped all 20 shots he faced for his second consecutive game with a shutout (extending his overall shutout streak to 141:29) for his fourth overall clean sheet of the season. Combined with teammate Clay Stevenson’s AHL-leading seven shutouts this season, Hershey’s 11 total shutouts earned by its goaltenders has established a new franchise record, besting the mark of 10 set during the 2014-15 campaign (Philipp Grubauer, 6; Pheonix Copley, 3; Justin Peters, 1). Shepard also jumped ahead of Stevenson to take over the league lead for goals-against average (1.89).
The win was Hershey’s fourth straight victory and sixth straight game with a point (5-0-0-1). The victory, coupled with Providence’s 3-2 overtime loss to Charlotte, also reduced the Bears’ Magic Number for clinching the Atlantic Division title to six points. Hershey finished its regular-season series against Cleveland with a 4-0-0-0 record and finished its slate of North Division opponents with a record of 11-3-0-2.
The first two periods were scoreless before Matt Strome beat Malcolm Subban with a shot from a sharp angle at 19:35 of the middle frame. Ryan Hofer earned a secondary helper on the strike.
That was merely a warmup for Hershey’s third-period scoring binge, as Frank scored with a 5-on-3 man advantage at 9:35, one-timing his 24th of the season past Subban on assists from Snively and Pierrick Dubé.
With the Bears still on the power play, Limoges netted his 20th of the season at 10:10 from Snively and Frank.
Minutes later, with both teams at full strength, Logan Day stole the puck in the Monsters’ zone and slid a pass through a defender’s legs across to Snively, who snapped his 11th of the season into the top corner of the net at 12:23. The first three goals scored in the third period represent the fastest three-goal sequence (2:48) by the Bears this season.
Limoges capped the scoring with his second of the night on Hershey’s final power play of the evening, redirecting Frank’s shot through the pads of Subban at 18:15, with Day earning a secondary assist. The four goals scored in the third period comprised the fastest four-goal sequence (8:40) by Hershey in the 2023-24 campaign; Hershey’s five total goals were scored in an 18:40 span, another team-best for the season.
Shots finished 28-20 in favor of the Bears. Shepard’s performance earned the goaltender his 23rd victory of the season for Hershey; Subban took the loss for Cleveland with a 23-for-28 effort. The Bears went 3-for-4 on the power play; the Monsters went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
