One goal was all that was needed to deal the Hershey Bears (41-10-0-3) their first home loss in nearly two months, as Hershey fell 1-0 to the Utica Comets (23-22-4-3) on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 10,549 at GIANT Center. The loss ended a seven-game home win streak and snapped a five-game (4-0-0-1) point streak for the Bears.
The Bears have now completed three-fourths of their 72-game 2023-24 schedule, with 18 games remaining. Despite the loss, at 41-10-0-3 (85 points), Hershey has still maintained its best start through the first 54 games of a season in team history. Hershey’s Magic Number remains at nine points as a result of tonight’s loss and Springfield’s 7-3 win over Laval.
The game stayed scoreless through the first two periods of play, with Hunter Shepard and Isaac Poulter trading saves at each end of the ice.
Robbie Russo scored the lone goal of the game when he buried a feed at 10:45 of the third past Shepard.
Shots finished 27-26 in favor of the Bears. Shepard went 25-for-26 in the loss for Hershey, his first regulation defeat since Dec. 8 at Syracuse, ending a 14-game stretch without a regulation loss; Poulter earned the shutout victory for Utica with a 27-for-27 effort. The Bears went 0-for-4 on the power play; the Comets went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
With Hershey match report
Saturday, March 2, 2024, the Hershey Bears vs the Utica Comets. The Comets beat the Bears by a score of 1-0.
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