

Photo: Bridgeport Sound Tigers

The Hershey Bears beat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4-1 Monday afternoon at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The win is the fifth straight for Hershey and raises the Bears record to 20-20-0-2 on the season. The Bears are back in action Wednesday night when they visit the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in Allentown. Puck drop is set for 7:05 PM.

GAME SUMMARY

In a game that was rescheduled for 1:00 PM on Monday due to Winter Storm Harper, the Sound Tigers would open the scoring early in the first period, but Riley Barber would tie things up with 14 seconds remaining in the period for a 1-1 tie at the first intermission. The Bears would get goals from Juuso Ikonen and a power play goal from Mike Sgarbossa for a 3-1 lead at the second intermission. Garrett Pilon would score his third of the season to make it 4-1 early in the final frame, and that would be the final.

STARTERS

Ilya Samsonov (8-11-0-2, 3.38 GAA, .871 sv%) started between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Jeremy Smith (12-7-2-0, 2.92 GAA, .901 sv%) got the start in goal for the Sound Tigers. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

O’Brien – Sgarbossa – Barber

Gersich– Megna – Pinho

Malenstyn – Pilon – Walker

Kammerer– Gustafsson – Ikonen

Ness – Lewington

Leach – Sproul

Geisser – Hobbs

SCRATCHES: Colby Williams (lower body), Lucas Johansen (upper body), Kris Bindulis (upper body), Steve Whitney (injury) were the injury scratches. Steve Johnson and Mason Mitchell were the healthy scratches.

FIRST PERIOD

After a relatively quiet start, Nathan Walker dropped the mitts with Kyle Burroughs at 4:24 of the first period.

The Sound Tigers would start the scoring with a power play goal from Otto Koivula at 16:23 of the opening frame.

The Bears would tie things up with a goal from Riley Barber with just 14 seconds left in the first period. This was Barber’s 17th tally of the season. Liam O’Brien was credited with the lone assist.

The first period would conclude with game tied 1-1. Bridgeport led in shots on goal 9-8. Bridgeport was 1 for 2 and the Bears were 0 for 1 on the power play.

SECOND PERIOD

The Bears would make it 2-1 with a goal from Juuso Ikonen at 4:28 of the middle frame. Liam O’Brien (6) and Garrett Pilon (14) were credited with the assists.

The Bears would stretch their lead to 3-1 with a power play goal from Mike Sgarbossa at 9:00 of the middle frame. Aaron Ness (25) and Riley Barber (20) were credited with the helpers.

The period would end with the Bears leading 3-1. The Bears led in SOG 12-7 for the second period, and led 20-16 after two periods of play. The Bears were 0 for 2 and the Sound Tigers 1 for 4 on the power play after 40 minutes of play.

THIRD PERIOD

The Bears would stretch their lead to 4-1 with a tally from Garrett Pilon. The play was started on a great forecheck from Beck Malenstyn, who dished to Pilon for the finish.

And that would be the final.

SHAVINGS

The Bears won their fifth straight game.

Stars of the game: 1) Barber, 2) O’Brien and 3) Samsonov.

Ilya Samsonov stopped 20 of 21 shots faced.

Samsonov won his 4th straight game.

Bears outshot the Sound Tigers 29-21.

Beck Malenstyn led the Bears in shots with 5.

Mike Sgarbossa extends his points streak to six straight games.

The Bears were 1 for 2 and the Sound Tigers 1 for 4 on the power play.

The Sound Tigers scored first, ending the Bears streak of 10-straight games where they scored the game’s first goal.

Liam O’Brien recorded his 100th and 101st career professional points in the game.

Attendance: 2,776

Bears recap is here.

The AHL box score is here.

HIGHLIGHTS

SCENES FROM BRIDGEPORT

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