Alex Limoges scored a pair of second-period goals for the Hershey Bears (42-11-0-5) but the visitors saw the host Utica Comets (25-24-4-4) take the final game of Hershey’s road trip by a 4-3 score in the shootout on Friday night at Adirondack Bank Center.
The Comets built an early 2-0 lead with goals by Filip Engaras at 2:43 and Xavier Parent at 6:15, as both Utica put eight total shots on Hunter Shepard in the opening frame.
The Bears got on the board in the final minute of the stanza when Riley Sutter deflected Matt Strome’s shot past Isaac Poulter at 19:13. Lucas Johansen earned a secondary assist on the tally.
Limoges tied the game at 8:04 of the second period when he skated in on a breakaway and beat Poulter for his 17th of the season.
Limoges potted his second 24 seconds later at 8:28 when he slammed in a backdoor feed from Aaron Ness. Garrett Roe earned a secondary assist.
The Comets equalized at 3:31 of the third period with a Kyle Criscuolo goal. The score remained tied at 3-3 at the end of regulation and a five-minute sudden-death overtime.
In the shootout, the Comets elected to shoot second. Hershey was unable to solve Poulter after sending out Pierrick Dube, Matthew Phillips, and Chase Priskie in the top of the first three rounds, and it was Timur Ibragimov in the bottom of the third who beat Shepard to lift Utica to the win.
Shots finished 28-25 in favor of the Comets. Shepard went 24-for-27 in the shootout loss for Hershey; Poulter took the victory for Utica with a 22-for-25 effort. The Bears went 0-for-5 on the power play; the Comets went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
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