HERSHEY BEARS OPEN SERIES WITH 6-1 TRIUMPH OVER WOLF PACK
Six individual goal-scorers find net for Hershey
The Hershey Bears (4-1) opened the Atlantic Division Finals with a 6-1 Game 1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack (5-3) on Thursday night at GIANT Center.
Chase Priskie opened the scoring 7:40 into the first period when he took a pass from Henrik Rybinski off a give-and-go and beat Olof Lindbom to the glove side for his first career goal in the Calder Cup Playoffs. Matt Strome earned a secondary assist.
Ethen Frank struck on the power play with a one-timer from the left circle at 3:58 of the second period for his fourth of the postseason, with Hendrix Lapierre and Joe Snively assisting.
Jake Leschyshyn struck on a breakaway goal to get the visitors on the board at 5:42, beating Hunter Shepard to the blocker side.
Alex Limoges banged home his second of the playoffs on a Lapierre rebound for a power-play goal at 13:28 to bring the score to 3-1; Snively had the extra helper for his second assist of the evening.
Garrett Roe received credit for his first career AHL playoff goal at 14:35 when Lucas Johansen’s shot from the left point struck the forward as it made its way to the net; Mike Vecchione picked up an assist for his first point of the 2024 postseason.
In the third period Ivan Miroshnichenko extended Hershey’s lead to 5-1 at 11:01 when he stole the puck from a Hartford player at the defensive blue line and raced in on Lindbom before backhanding his third of the playoffs past the sprawled netminder, who suffered an apparent injury on the play and exited the game. Lindbom was replaced in net by Talyn Boyko.
Jimmy Huntington scored a shorthanded goal at 13:07 to close out the scoring as he cut through the Hartford defense and buried his first of the playoffs from Rybinski and Johansen.
Shots finished 30-14 in favor of the Bears. Shepard went 13-for-14 for his fourth win of the postseason; Lindbom went 23-for-28 in the loss for Hartford, while Boyko went 1-for-2 in relief. The Bears went 2-for-4 on the power play; the Wolf Pack went 0-for-6 with the man advantage.
The Bears next take the ice for Game 2 of the best-of-five Atlantic Division Finals against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.
