HERSHEY, PA – The Hershey Bears won game four of their best-of-seven series 1-0 against the Philadelphia Phantoms and not only swept the Phantoms in four games, but officially ended the existence of the Phantoms in Philadelphia.
Neither team scored in the first period. Hershey outshot Philadelphia 11 to four but couldn’t get the puck past J.S. Aubin, who was in goal for Scott Munroe who was having a relatively bad series. The Bears went scoreless in four chances on the power play, while the Phantoms missed on their only chance.
The Bears got on the scoreboard first early in the second period. With Hershey on the power play, Graham Mink skated down the left wing boards and dished the puck off to Alexandre Giroux who was in the slot. Giroux snapped the puck past Aubin for a 1-0 lead just a minute and a half into the period. The Phantoms almost got on the scoreboard at the 17:52 mark when Jonathan Matsumoto went in on a breakaway shorthanded and was pulled down from behind and was awarded at penalty shot. Matsumoto attempted to deked left on Bears goaltender Michal Neuvirth but Neuvirth didn’t bite on the move to keep the Phantoms off the scoreboard. Again the Bears outshot Philadelphia 14 to nine in the period.
In the third period, both teams traded jabs on the power play but couldn’t convert. With the goaltender pulled at the end of the game, it appeared the Phantoms might have tied the game with 50 seconds left to go, but Neuvirth fell on the puck on the goal line during a mad scrabble in front of the Bears net. The Phantoms failed to score and so ended their season in less than dramatic fashion.
Mink, who scored the series-winning goal had was happy to be through the next round.
“It was a hard fought game right until the end,” said Mink. “You have to tip your hat off to those guys. They fought right until the end.”
Bears head coach Bob Woods praised his opponent after the game and noted that he will miss Hershey’s interstate rival.
“Philly was a tough opponent. I thought Aubin made some big saves to keep them in the game. We expected it to be a war and it was. Not we get to rest some guys and get after Scranton.” said Woods. “The fans will miss the rivalry and so will I. It was a lot of fun playing against them.”
Hershey will now take on the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins in the East Division finals that is slated to begin next weekend.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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