The Hershey Bears ended a busy weekend by dropping a 3-2 contest to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday afternoon at the PPL Center. Marcus Vela and Mason Morelli added goals, but the Chocolate and White fell to 24-15-3-3 overall and 0-4-0-0 at the PPL Center this year. 
On the day of the NFL’s big game, Hershey took the ice in the early afternoon Sunday looking to build off a 5-4 win over Belleville last night. Hershey got the show started as Vela deflected a Macoy Erkamps shot 13:27 into the first period to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. The secondary assist belonged to Shane Gersich for his 24th point of the year, tying a career-high.
Lehigh Valley responded on the power play in the second period as Hayden Hodgson found the back of the net at 3:49 of the middle frame as Adam Clendening and Cal O’Reilly would get the helpers.
The game stayed tied, 1-1, until there was 4:16 left in the third period. The Phantoms would take their first lead of the night as Morgan Frost had a high tip on a Charlie Gerard shot to make it 2-1 Lehigh Valley. Hershey vehemently argued the puck was deflected into the net with a high stick, but the goal was allowed to stand.
Down by a goal, Hershey would pull their goaltender, and Lehigh Valley’s Wyatte Wylie would feed Cal O’Reilly for an empty netter with 26.9 seconds left to make it 3-1.
That goal would prove critical, as Hershey’s Morelli would tally his seventh goal of the season with two seconds left thanks to a Lucas Johansen shot and a Vela setup. It would be Vela’s second consecutive game with two points, and his third multi-point game this season. However, the late goal was too little, too late for Hershey as the Bears dropped a second game this weekend at the PPL Center.
Shots finished 35-21 in favor of Hershey. The Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Lehigh Valley was 1-for-4.
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