In a rematch of Wednesday nights game, Hershey took the ice against the Providence Bruins on this hockey night in Hershey. The Bears came into tonight looking to get back at the Bruins after falling 3-1 to Providence two nights ago.
Only two changes for the Bears lineup from Wednesday, both in the forward group. Jalen Luypen, recently called up from South Carolina, replaces the sent down Kyler Kupka, while Justin Nachbaur comes back in on the fourth line for Alex Suzdalev.
In good news for Hershey, the amount of players on the injured list went down by one. He did not slide into the lineup tonight, but Leon Muggli is back available for selection in the lineup, a boost to the Bears backend depth. The smooth skating Swiss prospect looked good in the few games he got in before going down with an upper body injury.
Hershey seems unlikely to have Muggli available for long though. At 19, he is still able to play in the World Juniors, and his home nation of Switzerland did put him on the original 29 man roster. Something to keep an eye on.
Postgame Takeaways
- Not a game point here, but man I do love the white helmets with the Bears screaming eagle like jerseys. They look slick.
- I thought it was a good first five minutes for Hershey tonight, but Providence just does such a good job of limiting high profile chances. I’ve seen very few teams as good as them in the AHL over the last decade on defense.
- A really tough goal for Hershey to let up to kickstart the scoring. Merkulov was falling and the puck just squeaked under Clay’s pad. That’s probably the one he’d like to have back tonight in an otherwise strong performance again from Clay.
- It would be a defensive miscue that let Providence score their second. No one picked up Dans Locmelis on a Providence break in and he just roofed it past Stevenson to make it 2-0 Bruins.
- Someone mentioned to me Providence is 15-0 when they score first. They are now 16-0 after tonight.
- Brett Leason would get Hershey’s only goal on the night. He found himself left all alone to streak down the right side on a Bears power play and beat Zajicek clean to put the Bears on the board.
- Andrew Cristall got the primary assist on that goal, taking his point streak to six straight. Cristall leads the team in assists with 16 so far on the year.
- Clay Stevenson also got an assist on the goal, his first of the year and second of his career. Always cool to see a goalie get on the scoresheet.
- Hershey would lose two defensemen in the span of a minute because of pucks to the face in Jon McDonald and David Gucciardi. McDonald came back with a cage on, while Gucciardi remained out for the remainder of the game.
- Being down two defensemen in game isn’t helpful and it especially isn’t helpful when trying to kill a 5-on-4. The Bears penalty killers did a valiant job, but Providence would convert in what would be the dagger goal for the Bears comeback chances.
The Chocolate Roar 