Sonny Milano wasted no time having a big impact with the Hershey Bears after being demoted to the AHL earlier this week.
The 29-year-old winger factored in on three of Hershey’s goals in their 4-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs on Friday night. The three points were Milano’s first in the AHL since he recorded three points (2g, 1a) in five games for the Bears during the 2022-23 campaign.
Milano, skating on the team’s second line with Andrew Cristall and Henrik Rybinski, notched his first point on a power-play goal at 18:22 of the second period.
Ilya Protas moved the puck down low to Bogdan Trineyev, who fed a no-look, cross-crease pass to Milano for a slam dunk finish. The goal, Milano’s 48th career AHL marker, tied the game 1-1.
Early in the third period, Milano repaid his teammates at even strength, picking up a feed from Brett Leason before laying a beautiful touch pass out to Cristall. The 21-year-old rookie winger raced to the puck and shoved a quick backhand past goaltender Drew Commesso to put the Bears up 2-1.
From there, the wheels began to fall off for the IceHogs as they put the Bears on five straight power plays after the five-minute mark of the third period. Hershey had no luck on the first three tries, but found paydirt on the fourth via Protas.
Ivan Miroshnichenko fired a pass over to Milano, who tried to place a shot behind Commesso that got blocked by Trineyev in front. Protas picked up the rebound in the blue paint and rifled it into an empty net.
Cristall would add an empty-netter to seal the victory. The Bears are now 3-0 against the IceHogs this season, notably beating them in Hershey’s annual Teddy Bear Toss Game this past January.
Milano was named the team’s player of the game during their locker room celebration, choosing to don the customary fireman’s helmet backwards. The fashion choice prompted some of his teammates to proclaim Milano had “aura.”
Garin Bjorklund was dynamite in Hershey’s net, making 25 saves on 26 shots faced. Milano, Protas, Cristall, and Trineyev all posted multi-point nights.
The Bears did lose Rybinski to a lower-body injury in the second period. The team announced that he would not return to the game during the second intermission.
