Bears Get Better of T-Birds, 5-2

HERSHEY, Pa. – The Springfield Thunderbirds (37-22-5-2) could not make an early lead stand up in a 5-2 loss on Saturday night to the Hershey Bears (32-27-5-4) at the Giant Center.

The Thunderbirds did their best to take the raucous crowd out of the game early, as their power play connected for the third time in four chances at 7:47 of the first. Keean Washkurak, pressed into power-play duty in the late absence of Hugh McGing, located a loose puck in the blue paint after Nikita Alexandrov rang a shot off the near post from the left-wing circle. Washkurak tucked it in behind Pheonix Copley to give Springfield the 1-0 lead on Washkurak's first tally since Jan. 18.

However, the Bears got right up off the mat, and former T-Bird Dylan McIlrath was able to wrist a seeing-eye shot through traffic and over the glove of Charlie Lindgren to tie the game just 54 seconds after the Washkurak goal. 

A frenetic first period continued, with Copley and Lindgren needing to be at their best as the two clubs traded turnovers and scoring chances. The Bears eventually vaulted to the lead at 15:42 when Aliaksei Protas jammed a puck to the goal mouth from behind the net, squeaking it through Lindgren to give Hershey a 2-1 edge into the intermission.

A calmer second period yielded no tallies until the back half of the frame. After a T-Bird defender lost an edge and fell down in front of his own net, Garrett Pilon raced to a loose puck and centered it off the skate of a T-Bird and in past Lindgren. The hard-luck break put Springfield down 3-1 with 6:34 left in the middle period.

The Thunderbirds showed some pushback with under three minutes to play in the period when Tanner Kaspick raced in along the end boards to pick up a puck from the Hershey defense before laying it into the left-wing circle for Nathan Todd. Without any wasted motion, Todd one-touched a snap shot that tickled the top shelf over Copley's glove to cut the lead down to 3-2 with 2:56 to play in the second.

Hershey, though, had too many answers on this night, as Protas set up Mike Vecchione with a well-timed shot into the blue paint at 3:57 of the third. While Lindgren turned away the initial chance, Vecchione got to the rebound first to lift a backhander into the goal to restore the Bears' two-goal lead, 4-2. 

Copley and the Hershey defense did the rest from there, shutting out the high-powered Springfield attack in the final 20 minutes. Cody Franson rounded out Hershey's five-goal night with a 5-on-3 one-timer with 3:46 to play.

The T-Birds look to salvage a split of the back-to-back in Hershey as they tangle with the Bears once again on Sunday afternoon. Puck drop is set for 5:00 p.m. at the Giant Center and can be heard on NewsRadio 560 WHYN and streamed on AHLTV.
 
For more ticket information, to become a 2022-23 Springfield Thunderbirds ticket package member, or to purchase single game tickets, call (413) 739-GOAL (4625) or visit www.SpringfieldThunderbirds.com.