Ilya Protas scored the strangest and luckiest goal of his professional career thus far in the Hershey Bears’ 5-4 overtime loss to the Hartford Wolf Pack on Tuesday.
Skating down the middle of the ice early in the third period, Protas sent a shot on net, which appeared to go off the back boards and then be covered by Wolf Pack goaltender Dylan Garand. Officials blew the play dead because they thought the puck was frozen. But as that happened, the puck rolled through Garand’s five-hole and crept just barely over the goal line before a Wold Pack player could swipe it away.
Confusion reigned supreme, as the Bears celebrated in the corner as if it were a good goal. Protas pointed to Andrew Cristall, believing his line-mate’s poke at Garand as he skated by the net was the reason why it went in. Cristall then led the group down to the bench for fist bumps.
Officials on the ice reviewed footage of the play, seemingly ignoring the fact that they blew play dead before the puck crossed the goal line. And moments later, they ruled that the goal was, in fact, a goal. And Protas was the one who scored it.
Protas’s tally, which was assisted by Matt Strome and Louie Belpedio at 2:51 of the third period, brought the Bears within one of the Wolf Pack, making the score 4-3.
Graeme Clarke would tally his 11th goal of the season 22 seconds later to tie the game 4-4, eventually forcing overtime.
It was there that the Wolf Pack’s Bryce McConnell-Barker beat Clay Stevenson on a four-on-three power play that gave Hartford the victory 3:27 into sudden death.
Before the late-game heroics, Trey Fix-Wolansky notched a hat trick, scoring his third goal of the night on a penalty shot.
Brett Leason scored twice himself in the second period — his seventh and eighth goals of the season — to help claw Hershey back into the game.
With the overtime loss, the Bears extended their point streak to eight games, but sit fifth out of eight teams in the Atlantic Division with an 18-14-4-1 record and 41 standings points.
