By Michael Heilman

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms finished up their road trip Saturday night at the Giant Center against the Hershey Bears.

The Phantoms came fighting right out of the gate in the first period taking it to the Bears and as a result, they were able to take a 1-0 lead at four minutes and eleven seconds when Maksim Sushko (9) shot the puck that hit the stick of Chris Stewart (1), and over the shoulder of Bears goalie Vitek Vanecek in for the goal. This was Stewart’s first AHL goal since 2008 when he played for the Lake Erie Monsters. Morgan Frost (12) also assisted Stewart’s goal.

A delay of game penalty called against Phantoms forward German Rubtsov put the Bears on the power play with forty-five seconds left in the first period. At the end of the first period, the Phantoms led 1-0 and outshot the Bears eight to five. The Bears would start the second period with a minute and sixteen seconds left on the power play. Overall the Phantoms played hard nose hockey in the first period pushing the Bears around.

The Phantoms power-play unit killed off the remaining minute and sixteen seconds without the Bears scoring. The Bears came close to evening up the score, but Phantoms goaltender Jean Francois-Berube slammed the door shut to keep it a 1-0 Phantoms lead. The Phantoms also had to kill off a couple more power plays in the second period. During the second period, the Phantoms headed to the power play as a hooking call was made against Hershey center Chris McCarthy. Although the second period ended, the Phantoms still led 1-0 with eleven seconds left on the power play. The shots favored the Bears nine to eight. The Phantoms continued to stay with the Bears and Berube was playing tremendous at goal for the first two periods.

The Phantoms had plenty of work to do to try to secure the win, and it didn’t come easy in the third period. As the seconds were ticking down in the third period, the Bears were making it harder and harder for the Phantoms to keep the lead. The Phantoms defense sacrificed their bodies, which made it hard for the Bears to get any shots off. With two minutes and seventeen seconds left in the game, Phantoms forward David Kase (5) stole the puck and went around a couple of Bears defenders to go upstairs over the shoulder of Vitek Vanecek to add a cushion to the Phantoms lead 2-0.

After Kase’s goal, the Bears pulled Vanecek for the extra attacker only for the Phantoms to put the game away as Mikhail Vorobyev (9), with assists from Maksim Sushko (10) and Reece Willcox (7) sealed the game with an empty-net goal to give the Phantoms a 3-0 win over the Hershey Bears. This is the Phantoms first regular-season win over the Bears this year.

The shots on goal were thirty to eighteen in favor of the Phantoms, with both teams going zero for four on the power play. Lehigh Valley Phantoms goaltender Jean Francois-Berube gets his third shutout of the season-saving all eighteen shots. Hershey Bears goaltender Vitek Vanecek was twenty-seven of twenty-nine saves allowing two goals.

The three stars of the game were Phantoms forward David Kase with one goal, Phantoms goaltender Jean Francois-Berube with eighteen saves, and Phantoms right-winger Chris Stewart with one goal.

The Phantoms will return home next Friday night to the PPL Center against the Springfield Thunderbirds at 7:05 pm.

(player stats for the year)