The Hershey Bears (39-16-5-4) extended their point streak to seven games (5-0-0-2) with a 3-1 victory over the Toronto Marlies (40-20-3-2) on Wednesday morning at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Hershey took a 1-0 lead early in the contest when Hendrix Lapierre skated through the right circle and tucked his 11th of the season through the legs of goaltender Joseph Woll, at 2:04, as Garrett Pilon and Vincent Iorio recorded assists.
Hershey’s Sam Anas made it 2-0 when he knocked in a back-door tap-in tally from Joe Snively and Connor McMichael at 5:08 for his 11th of the season. For Anas, the goal marked his fourth in his last five games since returning to the lineup from injury.
McMichael’s assist pushed his season-high point streak to eight games (3g, 5a) since March 11.
Toronto got on the board late in the second period when Logan Shaw beat Bear netminder Hunter Shepard at 17:42.
Anas restored the two-goal advantage with his second of the day, at 1:29 of the third stanza. Woll, faced with Hershey pressure while attempting to play the puck at the side oft he net, coughed it up to Anas. With the net minder out of position he was able to hit a wide open cage for his 12th of the season to make it 3-1 edge for the Bears.
The Marlies pulled Woll with five minutes remaining to give them a six-on-5 skater advantage, but they were unsuccessful. Shots finished 28-22 in favor of the Bears.
The Bears were 0-for-3 on the power play; the Marlies finished 0-for-3 with the man advantage. Hershey remains on the road with games in Cleveland on Saturday, April 1 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, April 2 at 12 noon at Rocket Mortgage Field House.
The Chocolate and White return to Giant Center o host the Charlotte Checkers on Saturday, April 6 at 7 p.m.
Bears Notes:
Over the past five years Hershey has gone 3-2-0-0 at Toronto with its last victory coming on April 4, 2019 in a 3-0 win.
Aaron Ness played in his 300th career game as a Bear. The former 2008 draft selection of the New York Islanders is in his second stint with Hershey after previously skating for the club 2015-19. Ness became only the 15th Bears blue liner to play at least 300 regular season games with the club and is tied with Kevin McCarthy at 144 points for 12th in franchise scoring among defensemen.
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