The Bears had two chances early in front of the net that could not be converted into goals. They only allowed one early shot from Belleville, and kept the Senators quiet on the attacking end. With the chances they had, the Bears knew they needed to come out of the first period with something.

“The pokes were standing out there and it seems like we couldn’t miss them,” said Alex Limoges. “So that was annoying, but you don’t try to change anything. You just keep shooting and when you have a puck in the slot, you got to find a way to take eyes and get the puck there.”

Hershey did keep shooting, and it paid off as a power play goal got the scoring started with 1:13 remaining in the first. Alex Limoges was credited for the goal, off a redirect from Ivan Miroshnichenko’s shot. Hershey rattled off nine shots in the opening frame, compared to only one for Belleville.

Mike Vecchione went on to score a second period goal for Hershey, as Mike Sgarbossa set up Vecchione with a nifty pass past Belleville’s goalkeeper Michael Simpson, and into the net. It is Sgarbossa’s 300th AHL assist, going “Mike to Mike” to put Hershey up, 2-0.

Belleville got on the board on their ninth shot of the game, with 2:40 to go in the middle period. Aaron Crookshank had a wide open chance in front of the net off a pass from Stephen Halliday.

Hershey was quick to respond, though, as Luke Philip put the Chocolate and White back in a comfortable, two goal lead. He did it with 13 seconds remaining in the period, a huge boost for Hershey heading to the final period. Belleville tacked on eight shots in the middle period.

Aaron Ness was the lone goal-scorer in the third period, just his third goal. Not only was a key piece to a lockdown defense in Friday’s win, but he scored the “signature” goal of the win, finding the top left pocket of the net for a flashy goal. It gave Hershey a 4-1 advantage, where the game stayed for the finish. Brennan Saulnier and Matt Strome had the assist on the goal.

“That’s a pretty good 60 minutes we played; we let some bad details creep in a bit about maybe the last seven minutes of the second period. But we dialed it back in for the third. We had plenty of chances – we rang about six [shots] off the post tonight. I thought their goalie played really well, but it seemed like we couldn’t buy a goal. And these games are kind of tough because you have momentum, you’re getting chances, you’re getting breakaways, and you’re not finishing. And I’ve seen it many times where the ice is tilted in your favor and then all of a sudden they come down, they get a break off a stick or a skate or something like that, and all of a sudden you’re behind the eight-ball. It didn’t work out that way. But all in all, it was a good 60 minutes” – Todd Nelson on Friday’s performance

The Bears will host an 11 AM practice at GIANT Center before a 5 PM game on Sunday against the Rochester Americans. Rochester is 22-10 and sit second in the North Division.