Ethen Frank is absolutely on fire.
The 26-year-old forward scored in his sixth consecutive game on Tuesday, notching a power-play goal in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Frank’s tally gave the Bears a 2-0 lead 5:45 into the second period. Hershey would go on to win 6-2 and are one win away from the Calder Cup Finals.
The second-year winger went top shelf past Monsters goaltender Jet Greaves after receiving a cross-ice feed from Hendrix Lapierre.
The goal marked Frank’s eighth in nine 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs games. The six-game streak is now the longest of his career — both regular season and playoffs.
Ethen Frank’s longest consecutive goal streaks (career)
* 6-game goal streak: May 11 through June 4, 2024 (6 goals in 5 games)
5-game goal streak: October 22 through November 7, 2022 (5 goals in 5 games)
4-game goal streak: January 19 through January 27, 2024 (5 goals in 4 games)
3-game goal streak: March 17 through March 23, 2024 (3 goals in 3 games)
* Active streak
The AHL posted a highlight reel of Frank’s hot stretch.
“I try to tell myself to make an impact on the game no matter what and I think working hard and playing fast – good opportunities will come with my linemates and how we’ve been playing lately,” Frank said postgame. “I think it’s good to keep an even head and not think about scoring too much but just knowing that when an opportunity comes to bear down and make the best of it.”
According to research done by the Hershey Bears’ Jesse Liebman, Frank is the first Bears’ player to have a six-game, playoff goal-scoring streak in 36 years, when Ross Fitzpatrick did so in 1988. Harvie Pocza holds the all-time record, scoring in eight consecutive games during the 1981 playoffs.
Here are the full details per the Bears:
Ethen Frank’s power-play goal in the second period on Tuesday gave him his team-leading eighth goal of the postseason and extended his current goal-scoring streak to six games (6g), giving him Hershey’s first six-game postseason goal-scoring streak since Ross Fitzpatrick netted nine in a six-game stretch for the Bears from April 27-May 12, 1988. So far this postseason Frank has collected three power-play goals (leads the AHL), four game-winners (tied for the league lead), and two first goals (tied for third). The Bears’ playoff record for longest goal-scoring streak in a single playoff year is eight games, held by Harvie Pocza, who lit the lamp 10 times over eight consecutive matches during the 1981 playoffs from April 10-May 2.
The Papillion, Nebraska native’s eight goals are second-most in the AHL’s Calder Cup Playoffs, trailing only the Milwaukee Admirals’ Zach L’Heureux (9). Frank is also in a three-way tie for third in points with 11.
“I feel like I’ve grown on the mental side quite a bit compared to myself last year and I’m really thankful for that because obviously if I was doing the same thing I did last year it wouldn’t be very good on me,” Frank said. “I got to give credit to everybody else in that locker room. They’re making my life and job really easy and I’ll just keep shooting the puck.”
