The Hershey Bears defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 4-1 on Friday, earning their historic 51st win of the season. The victory tied Hershey with the 2022-23 Calgary Wranglers for the most wins in a 72-game AHL season. They will have four more opportunities this year to take the league record with two games each remaining against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Charlotte Checkers.
Clinching home ice throughout the entire 2024 Calder Cup playoffs was also on the line. With the win, the Bears cut their magic number down to just one point and can clinch with any form of loss by the Coachella Valley Firebirds later tonight.
Joe Snively earned the First Star of the Game award for his goal and assist in the game along with four shots on goal. Hunter Shepard made his 32nd appearance for Hershey this season and made 24 saves in the showing.
Matthew Phillips, playing in his sixth game with Hershey this season, got the Bears on the board first. Chase Priskie fired a slapshot from just above the left circle, and Phillips redirected the shot past goaltender Cal Petersen. The goal was scored at 14:48 of the first period.
Lehigh Valley believed they found the net later in the period, but the goal was waved off for never crossing the line. The Bears went into the second up 1-0.
Team-leading goal scorer Ethen Frank kept the goals coming for the Bears during the second period. Snively sent the puck to Frank at the left circle, where he fired the puck past Petersen for his 29th of the season. The goal was Frank’s 13th on the power-play marker this season, the fourth most in the league.
The Phantoms would score their first real goal – and only of the game – 10:40 into the second with a wraparound shot from Garrett Wilson. The goal also ended Hunter Shepard’s personal shutout time streak at 129:34. The Bears headed into the final period with a 2-1 advantage.
Logan Day got his fifth of the season on a shot from the right circle. Hardy Häman Aktell in the slot sent the puck to Day, where he fired a wrister under the glove of Petersen.
The Bears would stack one more goal onto Lehigh’s impending defeat late in the period. Priskie skated up the slot and fired the puck through traffic, where Snively deflected the puck into the net.
The victory now puts the Bears at 107 points, 10 greater than the second place and last year’s Calder Cup Final opponent the Firebirds.
If the Firebirds win in regulation tonight, any form of win from Hershey Saturday will clinch them the first place spot and the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy. The Bears play will take the ice at 6:05pm Saturday against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the first game of back to back matchups between the teams.
Here were the lines from the victory:
Below is the press release from Hershey:
BEARS WRAP SERIES WITH PHANTOMS WITH 4-1 WIN
Hershey earns 51st victory to tie AHL record for wins in a 72-game season
(Hershey, PA – April 12, 2024) – The Hershey Bears (51-12-0-5) earned a 4-1 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (29-30-6-3) in front of a crowd of 10,034 on Friday night at GIANT Center. Hershey’s 51st victory of the 2023-24 campaign tied the 2022-23 Calgary Wranglers for the American Hockey League record for the most wins in a 72-game regular-season schedule.
With the win, the Bears concluded their regular-season series with Lehigh Valley with a record of 8-2-0-2. Hershey reduced its Magic Number for the American Hockey League’s Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy for first place in the league to one point. Hershey’s earliest opportunity to clinch first place overall in the AHL can come with a Coachella Valley Firebirds loss to the Bakersfield Condors later tonight in their game at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, Calif.
The Bears opened the scoring at 14:48 of the first period when Hershey won a faceoff in the attacking zone, and Garrett Roe found Chase Priskie for a one-timer at the left point, which was redirected by Matthew Phillips past Cal Petersen for his second goal of the season.
Hunter Shepard came up with a big save at 17:20 as Cooper Marody tried to sneak the puck past the netminder at the left post, resulting in a review of the play by the officials, but the goaltender managed to keep it from crossing the goal line entirely, maintaining Hershey’s 1-0 lead.
Ethen Frank wired a power-play goal from the left circle through Petersen at 6:38 of the second for his team-leading 29th of the season.
Garrett Wilson got the Phantoms on the board at 10:40 as he brought the puck around the net and fired a shot near the right post that beat Shepard.
The Bears pulled away in the third period when Logan Day took a pass from Hardy Häman Aktell and snapped a shot from the right circle that beat Petersen upstairs at 6:34 for Day’s fifth of the season. Henrik Rybinski earned a secondary assist.
Joe Snively then made it 4-1 with his 12th of the season at 11:56 when he redirected Priskie’s pass behind Petersen to cap the scoring. Jimmy Huntington also assisted on the goal.
Shots finished 29-25 in favor of Hershey. Shepard went 24-for-25 to earn his 26th win of the season for Hershey; Petersen took the loss for Lehigh Valley with a 25-for-29 effort. The Bears went 1-for-5 on the power play; the Phantoms went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
