The Hershey Bears defeated the Lehigh Valley Phantoms 6-4 in Game 4 on Friday. The end of the game featured some fireworks as the two teams tried to set the tone heading into a series-deciding Game 5 at Giant Center.
The most notable issue came after the final buzzer sounded when Phantoms goaltender Cal Petersen skated over and poked his stick at opposing starter Clay Stevenson, who had just earned his first career playoff victory.
Stevenson didn’t appreciate the cheap shot and skated over to Petersen to exchange some unpleasantries. Two AHL officials quickly converged to break things up before the disagreement turned violent — not only between the two goalies but other players nearby.
The Phantoms were making their way over to where the Bears were celebrating because their locker room is on that side of PPL Center.
Petersen was ultimately given a two-minute minor for slashing at the 20:00 mark of the third period. Several Bears, irritated by the gesture, eventually taunted the Phantoms crowd as they left the ice at the other end, including Matt Strome, who clapped and waved at his former team’s fans.
Strome’s waving wasn’t the only gesture he made on the ice, either. The checking-line winger appeared to wink at the Lehigh Valley bench after he dove to draw a high-sticking penalty on Anthony Richard with 3:52 remaining in the third period. Richard’s stick, on replay, did not appear to hit Strome in the face.
The momentum-sapping penalty ended another Phantoms comeback attempt after they had scored two goals to narrow the score to 6-4. A little over a minute after Richard’s penalty, Phantoms forward Jett Luchanko received a roughing minor, making the Lehigh Valley bench irate. Garrett Wilson took a 10-minute misconduct for abuse of officials and took a shot at Stevenson as he left the ice.
“I don’t know if you watched what he did but he just skated off and poked me in the pads,” Stevenson said per video from Inside The AHL’s Tony Androckitis. “Like, so, I’m going to say something back if a guy does that to me. I’m just sitting there doing nothing as he gets ushered off and jabs me in the pads. Like I don’t know what you want from me. That’s all I got for you there. It’s a lot of emotion.”
Shortly after, the Bears’ Spencer Smallman fought Louie Belpedio and Vincent Iorio took a two-minute minor for roughing after removing a Phantoms player’s helmet.
“Our team is trying to protect me from the extra whacks and whatnot and sometimes guys take exception to that,” Stevenson said. “Really, that’s all that’s happening. For me, personally, I’m really happy I don’t get into it much unless a guy does something deliberate to me, but that’s really about it.”
