Lehigh Valley had a chance to knock off the Hershey Bears Friday evening, but Pierrick Dube’s two goals and a resurrected power play gave the reigning Calder Cup champions a wild 6-4 win, tying the best-of-five series at two games each. The Phantoms will have another chance to advance to the next round Sunday afternoon in Hershey.
The basics
First period: 5:46- Bogdan Trineyev (Riley Sutter), 11:51- Chase Priskie (Luke Philp, Spencer Smallman), 14:15- Mike Vecchione (Spencer Smallman, Jake Massie)
Second period: 3:56- Zayde Wisdom (Jacob Gaucher, Olle Lycksell), 4:31- Rodrigo Abols (Unassisted), 13:18- Pierrick Dube (Brad Hunt, Hendrix Lapierre) (PPG), 16:32-Pierrick Dube (Alex Limoges)
Third period: 10:00- Ivan Miroshnichenko (Bogdan Trineyev, Chase Priskie) (PPG), 13:47- Oscar Eklind (Adam Ginning, Nikita Grebenkin), 15:34- Jacob Gaucher (Olle Lycksell, Emil Andrae)
SOG: 32 (LHV) – 27 (HER)
Some takeaways
Goal? No
The Phantoms thought they might have scored the game-tying goal almost nine minutes in. A shot beat Hershey goalie Clay Stevenson but not the iron. The rebound was whiffed on by Jett Luchanko but many (including the person in charge of the goal siren) believed it was a goal. Play was stopped seconds later but the replay determined it hit the post.
That close call woke up Lehigh Valley who were a bit flat-footed to start. Unfortunately just as they looked to be turning momentum in their favor, Anthony Richard took a high-sticking penalty.
Come on feel Desnoyers
Although his brother is speculated to be a top 10 draft pick at the upcoming NHL Draft, Caleb Desnoyers’ older brother Elliot appeared in this crucial fourth game. Sadly after 40 minutes Desnoyers was rather invisible, with one shot on goal and a -1 in plus/minus.
But after the horrible start and being down 3-0 late in the first. Lehigh Valley had an important power play. It was almost a must they end the first only down two. But they were out of sorts entering the zone. And out of sorts the rest of the power play as fans booed.
Comeback?
The second period didn’t start with much of a push by Lehigh Valley. Only Givani Smith’s wraparound shot was the closest the Phantoms came. That is until Zayde Wisdom made a nifty backhand attempt pay off, giving the Phantoms and the crowd some life and making it a two-goal deficit. Wisdom’s celebration was more towards getting the crowd going.
Lehigh Valley with two goals 35 seconds apart and all of a sudden it’s a one-goal hockey game early in the 2nd period.
Here’s Zayde Wisdom’s third of the series to get #LVPhantoms on the board moments ago. @InsideAHLHockey pic.twitter.com/daUL9dapSI
— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) May 10, 2025
Then, less than a minute later, Rodrigo Abols stole the puck from a Hershey Bear and beat Stevenson with a sweet wrister to cut it the deficit to one.
Here’s Rodrigo Abols’ unassisted goal that brought Lehigh Valley back within a goal earlier in the 2nd period.@InsideAHLHockey pic.twitter.com/hTJuSnlQHa
— Tony Androckitis* (@TonyAndrock) May 10, 2025
The outburst caused Hershey to call their time out. The play might have been costly for Anthony Richard as he looked to be injured behind the net as Abols scored. Richard was favoring his right shoulder during Hershey’s time out.
Petersen looking small, not standing tall
With Carson Bjarnason as his backup, Cal Petersen got his first start in the AHL playoffs Friday night. After dazzling and stoning the Bears Sunday night in relief, Petersen faced one fewer Hershey forward as the Bears went with 11 forwards and seven blueliners. While not tested much on Hershey’s opening man advantage, the Bears’ ensuing power play caused some havoc. And Hershey’s second goal of the night as Chase Priskie beat Petersen with a howitzer from the point as the minor penalty concluded.
By this early point, it was imperative the Bears stop the bleeding before a fifth game in Hershey became more of a guarantee. Unfortunately a pretty passing play between Spencer Smallman and Mike Vecchione led to Vecchione beating Petersen high for a commanding 3-0 lead before the game was 15 minutes young.
Veccs nets his first of the playoffs!
🍎Smallman
🍏Massie https://t.co/yrxsC1rUmL pic.twitter.com/sqX4dEcA7q— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) May 9, 2025
Hershey was all over the Phantoms, outshooting them 11-3 and missing two or three golden chances to make it a laugher. The crowd at PPL Center were quieter than the platinum seats at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena in a playoff game. That’s quiet.
Nothing easy
The Phantoms and Bears started off with lots of contact, lots of neutral zone play and rather close checking. Although the line featuring Jett Luchanko and Alex Bump should’ve been energized to start, they took some time to find their game. Hunter McDonald took the game’s first minor as he made contact with Stevenson, despite seemingly being pushed into Stevenson by a Hershey defender. But the Bears’ anemic power play nearly resulted in another Phantoms’ short-handed goal. Olle Lycksell’s wrister nearly squeezed through Stevenson’s right arm.
However Hershey’s Bogdan Trineyev found a seam and beat Petersen clean for a 1-0 lead nearly six minutes into the contest.
Hunter McDonald drinking game?
If you had a beer or took a shot every time Hunter McDonald was in the penalty box, you would’ve had a pretty good buzz halfway through the contest. McDonald had three minors with just over 30 minutes played. He was also in the box as Hershey got an important insurance goal by Pierrick Dube to make it 4-2.
Dubes finds twine on the power play!
🍎Hunt
🍏Lapierre https://t.co/r6irQVFlkI pic.twitter.com/2DV8w1ln2A— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) May 10, 2025
If that wasn’t bad enough, Dube hit twine again 74 seconds later, erasing the two-goal quasi-comeback and putting Hershey again comfortably ahead 5-2.
Third period comeback?
The final frame was low on chances but lower on whistles. An extended whistle-free run was Hershey’s friend as their lead looked almost insurmountable. But a rather idiotic penalty by Dube 200 feet from his own goal gave Lehigh Valley one last shot of life. And provided one of the best rushes all night thanks to Emil Andrae. Andrae looked to have Stevenson beat but it wasn’t to be. Instead Andrae was called for a minor seconds later.
The only goal was courtesy of Hershey as Ivan Miroshnichenko buried the puck in the nearly empty net for a 6-2 lead, ensuring game five in Hershey on Sunday was happening. Pouring salt into the wound was the idea Hershey would have more confidence in their power play having scored twice Friday night.
But…Lehigh Valley scored twice in the waning minutes, the latter with the goaltender pulled to make it a little uncomfortable for Hershey at 6-4. Another Phantoms penalty resulted in Petersen being pulled so they could play five-on-five for most of the Bears’ power play. But another minor penalty by the Phantoms (Luchanko this time) essentially ended any miracle four-goal comeback.
Power play pressure
A power play after Lehigh Valley made it 3-2 nearly tied things up. Between Alex Bump and Jett Lucbanko (who were both doing very little to help the Phantoms in the first), the Phantoms had three or four excellent chances to tie it up. Luchanko had a lovely deflection that nearly got by Stevenson. Not to be outdone, Bump showed an incredible amount of poise and patience for such a young’un, looking more like a seasoned pro than a newbie.
Unfortunately a short four-on-three and longer 5-on-3 didn’t result in the Phantoms closing the three-goal gap.
Goalies getting involved
After the game, with both teams on the ice, both Petersen and Stevenson looked like they wanted to rumble. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed and the vitriol was saved for Sunday.