Ivan Miroshnichenko is on pace for his first 20-goal season in the AHL after a string of good play over the last month. Spanning January 31 through March 2, Miroshnichenko has an Ovechkian eight goals in his last nine games, including scoring his second career hat trick.
The Russian forward prospect is currently on a three-game goal streak — the longest of his professional career — notching four goals and five points in his last three Bears games. On Saturday, he had a career-high in shots, getting nine pucks on goal.
Miroshnichenko’s rise has coincided with Hendrix Lapierre re-finding his game after being sent down by the Washington Capitals in late December. Lapierre centered Alex Limoges and Miroshnichenko on Hershey’s second line (Note: Miro has been skating on the right wing) and the trio is rapidly finding more and more chemistry. Lapierre has 11 points over his last six games, including two different three-point nights.
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“I thought playing in the O-zone, Limo’s a super-smart player, makes really good plays, Miro always finds the open spots, so I feel like we compliment each other pretty well,” Lapierre said per the Bears. “These last couple weeks have been good, there’s stuff that I have to work on and I’m trying my best to do that every day and to get another shot in the NHL. So we’ll see what happens. But I’ve been feeling really good about my game.”
Nelson said of Lapierre and Miroshnichenko, “I was happy for them, because I challenged both of them before the (February 23) game, like, ‘We need more out of you guys if we want to have success,’ and they took it to heart.”
Ivan Miroshnichenko’s 13th goal on Feb. 23
Miroshnichenko’s first goal of the streak came in the Hershey Bears’ 2-0 win over the Charlotte Checkers. After some hard work in the slot, the Russian sniper skated to the backdoor where he found a rebound and shot the puck into the yawning net. The tally would stand up as the game-winner.
Ivan Miroshnichenko’s 14th and 15th goals on Mar. 1
A week later, Miroshichenko struck twice against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, beating former NHL starter Tristan Jarry in Hershey’s 5-4 overtime win. The game was arguably Miro’s best performance of the season.
Miroshnichenko’s first tally came 15:01 into the second period and started Hershey’s comeback from down 3-0. Taking a quick pass from Limoges behind the net, the Capitals’ 2022 first-round pick quickly shot the puck into the net at the far post.
In the third period, Miroshnichenko tied the game with a lot of hustle. After his fancy move down the right wing was stymied by a Penguins defender, he laid a big hit into the end boards to regain possession of the puck for Hershey. Ethan Bear put a point shot on net that Miroshnichenko deflected home, electrifying the crowd.
Miroshnichenko finished the evening with a game-high nine shots.
Ivan Miroshnichenko’s 16th goal on Mar. 2
Miroshnichenko extended his goal streak to three games after scoring the game-winner in Hershey’s 4-0 shut out of the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Miro opened the scoring with an Ovi-esque one-timer from above the left circle on the power play, easily beating Phantoms goaltender Keith Petruzzelli. The two game-winners of the streak marked the third and fourth of his AHL career.
With 20 games remaining in the season, Miroshnichenko is on pace for 26 goals. He now leads all active Bears in goal-scoring with 16 tallies (Ethen Frank has 20 but is in Washington). After spending a large chunk of the season with the Capitals, Miroshnichenko has 29 points in 33 games — a new single-season career-high.
Miroshnichenko, a right-handed shooter who used to play on the left wing exclusively, has started getting ice time on the right — a similar adjustment to what Alex Ovechkin has undergone up in Washington under Spencer Carbery.
