Sam Anas scored the game-winner in his return to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 21, as the Hershey Bears (36-16-5-2) picked up a 2-1 victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (31-24-3-3) on Friday night at the PPL Center.
With the win, Hershey is now 10-2-0-0 against Lehigh Valley this season. The victory, combined with a regulation loss by Hartford against Springfield, has also reduced the Magic Number for the Bears to six points.
Ethen Frank put Hershey up 1-0 in the first period when Joe Snively’s shot rebounded off the pads of Samuel Ersson to Frank at the right circle, who put home is 26th of the season at 18:56. Connor McMichael collected a secondary helper on the goal, extending the forward’s point streak to four games (1g, 3a).
The Phantoms tied the game at 16:09 of the second period when Ronnie Attard swung off the left wall and beat Hunter Shepard upstairs.
With the game still level at 1-1 in the third, Anas broke the deadlock with a power-play goal as he beat a screened Ersson with a wrist shot at 10:47 to make it 2-1 with his eighth of the season. The goal was also Anas’ 300th career professional point (104g, 196a). Julian Napravnik and Bobby Nardella contributed assists.
Shots finished 22-19 in favor of the Phantoms. Shepard went 21-for-22 for Hershey in his 13th victory of the season to snap a five-game stretch without a win; Ersson was 17-for-19 for Lehigh Valley. The Bears were 1-for-2 on the power play; the Phantoms finished 0-for-5 with the man advantage.
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