The Hershey Bears (34-16-5-2) were blitzed with four goals against in a span of 8:44 in the first period – including a hat trick by Vinni Lettieri – in an eventual 5-3 loss to the Providence Bruins (33-14-8-2) on Sunday afternoon at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.
With the defeat, Hershey now trails Providence by three points for first place in the Atlantic Division; the Bears have a game in hand. Hershey is now 1-4-0-0 against Providence this season, with one final game remaining in the series set for Wednesday, April 12 at Providence.
Lettieri scored just 1:36 into the contest to put Providence up 1-0 when his wrist shot from the right circle beat Hunter Shepard for a power-play goal.
Lettieri scored his second of the afternoon for Providence when Justin Brazeau made his way behind the net and threw the puck to Lettieri in the slot, who beat Shepard at 4:18.
Lettieri then set up John Beecher in a similar fashion at 5:06 to put the Bruins ahead 3-0.
The Bears got on the board with a power-play goal when Mike Vecchione one-timed a shot from the right circle past Kyle Keyser at 8:52 for his 20th of the season from Joe Snively and Connor McMichael.
Lettieri completed his hat trick at 10:20, prompting the Bears to replace Shepard in goal with Zach Fucale.
Before heading into the intermission, Hershey pulled back to within two goals when Aaron Ness knocked in a Henrik Rybinski rebound for his third of the season at 18:03, with Snively collecting a secondary assist for his second helper of the afternoon.
A double-minor penalty to Ness for high-sticking early in the second put the Bears on an extended penalty kill, but Hershey’s defense stepped up in the middle frame, holding the Bruins at bay despite 14 shots against in the period.
Rybinski collected his fourth of the season off a Shane Gersich rebound just 1:59 into the third to bring the Bears back to within a goal of the Bruins. Ness picked up the secondary assist, to give him his first multi-point game of the season, and his 300th career pro point.
The Bruins, however, would close the game out with an empty-net tally by Chris Wagner at 19:10.
Shots finished 38-35 in favor of the Bruins. Shepard went 5-for-9 in the loss for Hershey, while Fucale was 28-for-28 in relief; Keyser was 32-for-35 for Providence. The Bears were 1-for-2 on the power play; the Bruins finished 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
You must be logged in to post a comment.