The Hershey Bears suffered a rare blowout loss to the Bridgeport Islanders on Saturday, but there was one piece of good news in the shellacking: Ethen Frank became the AHL’s new league leader in goals.
Frank scored 8:09 into the second period to narrow Bridgeport’s early lead to 2-1.
Speeding down the ice at full stride, Frank, after a set play went awry, collected a loose puck and made a power move to the net, beating Islanders goaltender Jakub Skarek low and to the glove side.
The unassisted tally was Frank’s 11th goal of the year, leapfrogging him over the Calgary Wranglers’ Rory Kerins (10) for the league lead. Frank’s 15 points (11g, 4a) in 15 games this season also puts him third in the league.
Despite the Frank SCOAR, the Bears surrendered four consecutive goals after he found paydirt, falling 6-1 — their most lopsided loss of the season. Clay Stevenson stopped 30 of 36 shots he faced.
The Islanders were led by forward Fredrik Karlström, who lit the lamp in the first and third periods.
“You know, we talked about it, we’ve played 10 games here at home, we’re 5-4-1 – that’s not Hershey Bears hockey,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said per the team. “We go on the road, we play five or six games, whatever it is, and we’re undefeated on the road. So that tells me it’s something going on, like they have to start preparing themselves better. They understand that teams – when they come in here – don’t have their way like they did tonight. It’s a good slap in the face for everybody. We won the last three games I was away, but still, we played alright, but there was always something missing. I’ve talked about it all year and we saw what happened tonight and can’t fault our goalies, they had to make big saves but we have to help them out too. You know, we get outshot 18-6 in the first period. That’s a pretty big red flag, bottom line.”
Hershey will take to the road on Saturday night for a matchup against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
