Hershey Bears Suffer 5-1 Loss Against the Portland Pirates

Steven Oleksy sporting the new C on his sweater. Photo Credit: Tori Hartman

In a three-in-three weekend, the Hershey Bears only came away with two points. The Hershey Bears ended their 12 game win streak at home in a disappointing 5-1 loss against the Portland Pirates. The Pirates took home six points on the weekend and scored five goals on each team they faced: the Syracuse Crunch on Friday , Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday, and finishing it off against the Hershey Bears on Sunday.

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The game started off right for the Hershey Bears who scored on a power play opportunity just three minutes into the game. Stanislav Galiev scored his 23rd of the year on some pretty passing from Andre Burakovsky and Chris Conner. After the first five minutes of the period, the Pirates dominated the rest of the game. At 13:07, Dylan Reese tied the game at 1-1. Two minutes and 14 seconds later, Joel Hanley put the Pirates up 2-1 on the power play, and Portland would just add to their lead from there.

The second period evened out a little with chances for both teams. The Hershey Bears had a few minutes where they had some opportunity after a big penalty kill, but Portland definitely kept the pressure on. Grubauer had to stay sharp and came up with some huge saves to turn away 15 shots in the period. The Pirates kept their 2-1 lead throughout the entire second period.

Henrik Samuelsson to Jordan Martinook to Justin Hodgman would extend the Pirates lead 3-1 fairly early in the third period. Hershey’s fan favorite referee, Terry Koharski, was in town to call three more minor penalties against the Hershey Bears in the third period. Philip Samuelsson would cash in on one of those opportunities, but the Hershey Bears would kill of the other two minors. Then, Jordan Martinook would finish out the scoring to set the final 5-1 victory for his Pirates team. David Leggio would find his revenge against his former Hershey Bears teammates after previously losing twice to them in the season while he was with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

I know it must be disappointing to see the team lose like this with how well they have been competing and winning. Keep in mind fatigue may have been a factor since the Hershey Bears were in Providence Friday, Hartford Saturday, and then back home on Sunday all while losing an hour of sleep. Also, it was a pretty big jumble in the line-up throwing both Volpatti and Burakovsky in. I wasn’t very impressed with Burakovsky‘s first game back with the Hershey Bears. Even though he picked up his first AHL point, he just a little careless with the puck. It is a different league and team, and I’m sure Burakovsky will adjust with time. Here’s what Head Coach Troy Mann had to say about Burakovsky in his post game conference:

"Just OK for me. I thought that he turned way to many pucks over. He is certainly a high skilled player, but it’s tough for a kid like him. He’s been in the NHL all year and has been thrown into the fire here. He’s only played three games with us and hasn’t really practiced a ton either. It’s a team game. If he’s here over an extended period of time, we will have to integrate him and try and get his game focused on playing the right way, but just his puck management wasn’t very good for me tonight."

Again, I was upset to see Landry scratched and to see that the Liam O’Brien–Joel Broda–Garrett Mitchell line was broken up. The 20–19–36 line was pretty good as of late and provides a lot of energy into the line-up. Landry and Broda could have been useful on the penalty kill tonight, as well. The Pirates scored on two of their seven power play opportunities, but Landry and Broda could have added to the penalty kill.

Troy Mann is ready to get the team back into action after Sunday’s loss:

"We’ve had a great stretch here, but we have to nip it in the bud here, and get back to work Tuesday and make sure we are ready to go Wednesday; and make sure this doesn’t prolong in terms of giving up these shots and not playing up to our capabilities."

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton gained two points on the Hershey Bears as they won against the Springfield Falcons. Two huge games are coming up for the Bears as they face-off against their Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rival on Wednesday and Saturday. It’s important to win these games to keep first place in the East Division.

Gamesheet

Three Stars of the Game:

1. Jordan Martinook (1G, 2A)

2. Justin Hodgman (1G, 1A)

3. David Leggio (23 saves on 24 shots)

Lines:

Conner–Kennedy–Galiev

Cornet–Burakovsky–Wellman

Gazley–Newbury–Brown

Volaptti-Rotating C- Mitchell

Schilling–Oleksy

Schmidt–Burgdoerfer