ALLENTOWN, Pa. — It’s been 11 days since the Hershey Bears’ last win. Since then, the team has taken two losses to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, one to Charlotte, and as of Sunday evening, a 2-0 loss to Lehigh Valley to finish out the calendar year.

It took four minutes and 20 seconds for the Phantoms’ iconic trucker’s horn to ring in PPL Center, and the Bears to trail 1-0. It was Lane Pederson, no stranger to goal scoring, doing it for the tenth time this season, and his twentieth point. He shot from beyond the blue line on a wrister, and it just slipped through Clay Stevenson’s leg pad.

The Phantoms continued to pepper shots at Stevenson, who’s now been entered into a two-man goalkeeper rotation with Mitch Gibson, with news emerging Tuesday afternoon that Garin Bjorklund will be sent to the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL.

Four Phantom shots later, PPL Center’s horn rang once again. It was Pederson, ripping one from the slot. Before Grant Cruikshank and Clay Stevenson could fully find the puck, it had gotten through both and into the net for an insurance goal, making the deficit 2-0 for Hershey.

After the first 20 minutes of play, Hershey was not only outmatched on the scoreboard, 2-0, but also completely outmatched in shots and opportunities. The Phantoms had a chokehold on the shots tally, 18-7.

That changed in the middle period. Hershey’s defended better and outshot Lehigh Valley 14-6. Still, none of their opportunities translated into goals.

“We didn’t have a good start to the game,” said Head Coach Derek King. “We get behind, and now every time we get a shot in the second and third period when we start playing better, you almost feel like ‘It’s got to go in, it’s got to go in.’ … The effort is there. We got to play like we played in the second and third period tonight and we’ll have a better outcome.”

At the 14:48 mark, Sam Bitten and Garrett Wilson fought inside the face-off circle near Lehigh Valley’s goal. Both went to the penalty box for five-minute fighting penalties, and it provided a spark that the team needed at the time.

“It’s a big part of my job to do that and generate the energy,” said Bitten. “I felt like it was a good time in the game to do it. Going after a guy that’s been arguably one of the toughest guys in the league the last, you know, I don’t know how many years. It felt good to stand up, and I think the boys really appreciate that.”

The Bears added ten more shots to their tally in the third period, and Hershey had a fighting chance for the vast majority of the final period to put a goal on the board and make the remainder of the game interesting.

Jon McDonald, Andrew Cristall, Ilya Protas, Henrik Rybinski and Louie Belpedio all added shots on net late in the third. Consistent saves from Lehigh Valley’s Aleksei Kolosov kept Hershey from tacking anything on the board.

Lehigh Valley did tack another on the board for themselves, though, scoring an empty netter with 36.7 seconds remaining. It was Maxence Guenette scoring his first goal of the season, and his first as a Phantom.

The calendar will turn to a new year for Hershey, and just as it does for millions worldwide, the reset button will be hit on what has been four disappointing results for Hershey. The team has Thursday and Friday to prepare for a weekend doubleheader with Rockford, a crucial two-game set in out-of-division play. Sunday’s 3 p.m. tilt with the IceHogs is Hershey’s “Teddy Bear Toss game.”

“I always love those games,” said Bitten on speciality games like the “Teddy Bear Toss.” “I know the fans really appreciate it. When I got traded here, it was always the talk about, every year that the Hershey Bears break the record. I’m really looking forward to the people that come support, it’s an amazing cause.”