The Hershey Bears had identical 5-4 home wins on consecutive nights over the Bridgeport Islanders. On Saturday night, Ivan Miroshnichenko followed up his hat trick on Friday with similar but different offense.
Miroshnichenko scored his fourth goal in two days and chipped in assists on two other goals to give him back-to-back three-point games for the first time in his AHL career. Hershey also got goals from Bogdan Trineyev, Spencer Smallman, and their AHL All-Star representatives, Alex Limoges and Ethan Bear.
Miroshnichenko first got on the scoresheet after assisting on Trineyev’s career-high tenth goal of the season. Trineyev tapped home a great spinning backhand feed from Miroshnichenko with 1:09 remaining in the opening frame to close Bridgeport’s early lead to 3-1.
Miroshnichenko was next on the board, scoring his 12th of the season just 2:23 into the second period. After seeing his initial shot blocked, the 20-year-old Washington Capitals prospect fired again and beat Islanders goaltender Hunter Miska.
The power-play strike came during the first two minutes of a four-minute power play the Bears received after Islanders forward Chris Terry received a double minor for high-sticking. Miroshnichenko’s goal came with 17 seconds left on the first minor, keeping the Bears up a man for another two minutes.
Hershey capitalized on that extra power play time, as Smallman converted a rush chance, assisted by Brad Hunt and Miroshnichenko, just 16 seconds after the previous goal. Smallman’s tally, his seventh of the season, tied the game 3-3.
Eetu Liukas put the Islanders back in the lead later in the second, but Limoges guided a backdoor feed from Pierrick Dubé into the net to draw the two teams level again heading into the third. Hershey would then get the game-winning goal from Bear 6:39 into the final period.
Miroshnichenko was named First Star of the Game for his efforts. The three points increased his AHL season total to 24 points (12g, 12a) in 26 games.
“He worked hard again tonight, Bears head coach Todd Nelson said per the team. “This is the first time since I’ve coached Miro – last year and this year – that I’ve put him out there with the goalie pulled, and the reason why I did that is that he’s built confidence throughout the last couple of games and he deserves to be out there, and he did a really good job.
“That’s the part of the game that has to be consistent for him, and that’s the part of the game that’s going to help him get back to the National Hockey League, because the points will follow. That’s six points in two games? That’s impressive. He’s playing with Mike Sgarbossa and Mike Vecchione, and right now there’s some chemistry with them.”
Miroshnichenko now has 10 points (5g, 5a) in 10 games since the Capitals sent him down to the Bears on January 10.
Hershey’s win over Bridgeport on Saturday night came in their final game before the AHL All-Star break. Limoges and Bear are headed to Coachella Valley to represent the team in the All-Star events, while the rest of their teammates will be off until February 8, when the Syracuse Crunch come to Giant Center.
