The Hershey Bears suffered another injury against the Cleveland Monsters in the Eastern Conference Finals. Ethen Frank, who extended his playoff goals streak to seven games, departed the third period of Thursday night’s 3-2 loss and did not return.
Frank appeared to be struck in the hand by a Dylan McIlrath shot before exiting the game per Bears Hockey Nation.
Ethen Frank’s last shift before exiting during the TV timeout. Dylan McIlrath took a shot that appeared to hit him in the hand. pic.twitter.com/QMwJI17SbV
— Bears Hockey Nation (@HBHNationBlog) June 7, 2024
Frank previously missed Hershey’s clinching victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division Finals due to an undisclosed injury. He returned for Game 1 against Cleveland and has played in every game of the series to this point.
“Just an upper-body injury,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said postgame. “He’s getting evaluated right now.”
The 26-year-old winger scored Hershey’s first goal of the game late in the first period. With the Bears on a power play, Frank sniped a shot from the left circle past Monsters netminder Jet Greaves to the far corner.
Frank’s seven-game goal streak in the playoffs is the second longest in Hershey’s long history. If can score again in his next outing, Frank will tie the franchise record set by Harvie Pocza, who scored in eight consecutive games during the 1981 playoffs.
Frank’s nine goals are tied for second most in the league this postseason, one behind Milwaukee’s Zach L’Heureux. His twelve overall points see him rank behind only L’Heureux (16) and linemate Hendrix Lapierre (13).
Nelson replaced Frank on the Bears’ top line with Matthew Phillips in the third period and had Ivan Miroshnichenko manning the left side of Hershey’s 6-on-5 attack during the final minutes. Phillips was an injury replacement for Pierrick Dubé who took a puck up high in Game 3 and was unable to dress on Thursday.
Hershey was also without forward Henrik Rybinski and defensemen Lucas Johansen, Aaron Ness, and Jon McDonald. If Frank is unable to dress for Game 5 and both Dubé and Rybinski stay inactive, the Bears could turn next to rookie forward Ryan Hofer who played in 40 regular season games.
Game 5 in Cleveland is set for another 7 pm puck drop on Saturday night.
