Priskie Pushes Bears to 4-3 OT Win Over Phantoms

Defenseman Chase Priskie netted his first goal of the season in sudden-death, as the Hershey Bears (7-2-0-0) opened the month of November with a 4-3 overtime win over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (3-4-1-0) on Wednesday night at GIANT Center to remain atop the American Hockey League’s Atlantic Division.

BOX SCORE

Both teams played through a goal-less opening frame, with Hershey outshooting Lehigh Valley by a 10-9 differential.

Cooper Marody knocked in the first goal of the game at 3:57 of the second period when his shot beat Hunter Shepard to put the visitors up 1-0.

Nic Aube-Kubel leveled the score for Hershey at 6:51 when Bogdan Trineyev entered the attacking zone with possession and slid it back up the right wing board to Aube-Kubel, who drove the net and toe-dragged the puck before it banked in off a Lehigh Valley skate and into the net of Felix Sandstrom for Aube-Kubel’s first as a Bear. Dylan McIlrath earned a secondary assist on the goal.

The duo of Aube-Kubel and Trineyev teamed up again moments later to net Hershey’s first shorthanded goal of the season, as Aube-Kubel ushered the puck along through center ice to Trineyev for a breakaway and beat Sandstrom for his second of the season at 11:00 to put the Bears ahead 2-1.

Adam Ginning leveled the score 51 seconds later with a slap shot from the right circle that blistered its way past Shepard at 11:51 to even the game at 2-2.

Seconds after play resumed, the Bears suffered a setback with the loss of Mike Vecchione after the forward was assessed a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct after colliding with Ginning at 11:59. With Ethen Frank serving the five-minute infraction, Hershey’s penalty-killing unit held the Phantoms at bay for the duration of the penalty to keep the score level.

Shepard came up with a gorgeous glove save on Olle Lycksell with just over a minute remaining in the stanza to cap a period in which the Phantoms outshot Hershey 15-6.

Pierrick Dube put Hershey ahead 3-2 at 9:23 of the third when he took a stretch pass from Ivan Miroshnichenko and broke in with Aaron Ness on an odd-man rush and beat Sandstrom for his third of the season. McIlrath again received a secondary helper.

Jon-Randall Avon tied the game at 15:07 with a power-play goal for Lehigh Valley, forcing the game to overtime.

Priskie secured the extra point for Hershey in the additional frame when Mike Sgarbossa stripped Marody of the puck at the Bears blue line, allowing Priskie to skate in on Sandstrom on a breakaway and beat the netminder with a shot to the glove side to win it for the hosts. The goal marked Priskie’s 100th career professional/AHL point. Hershey improved to 7-0-0-0 this season when Sgarbossa has recorded a point.

Shots finished 33-28 in favor of the Phantoms. Shepard went 30-for-33 to get the win for Hershey; Sandstrom went 24-for-28 in the defeat for Lehigh Valley. Hershey was 0-for-4 on the power play; the Phantoms went 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

With Hershey match report