Chris Bourque Completes Epic Comeback In Hershey’s 5-4 Win

Chris Bourque celebrates his game winning goal with less than a minute left in the third period to beat Lehigh Valley in game two of the Atlantic Division semi-finals (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)

The Hershey Bears erased a 4-2 deficit in the third period, and Chris Bourque’s game winning goal with 33 seconds on the clock got Hershey a 5-4 victory in Lehigh Valley on Saturday night. Hershey takes a two-games-to-none series lead, with the chance to eliminate the Phantoms on Wednesday night at Giant Center.

The game started out fast and furious in the early going, as Tyler Lewington dropped the gloves with Phantoms captain Colin McDonald after a big hit on Aaron Ness. The Phantoms went on their first of four power plays in the first period and scored to take a 1-0 lead.

The Bears would get the worst of the calls on scrums behind the play with the Phantoms and would be outshot 16-4 in the first period. However, they made the most of their first shot on goal, as Stanislav Galiev buried a perfect pass from Madison Bowey to tie things up at one goal apiece. The Phantoms would score on their fourth power play before the end of the period to take a 2-1 lead into the room after one period.

The game calmed down a bit after the intermission and settled into more of the defensive game similar to yesterday’s contest. The Bears tied the game at two goals each when Christian Djoos wired a one-time shot past the short side of Alex Lyon. But two straight goals from Greg Carey got the Phantoms a commanding 4-2 lead after two periods despite a much stronger overall second period from the Chocolate and White. Even worse, Aaron Ness seemed to tweak his previous injury chasing the puck on an icing call, and Hershey was down a defenseman for the rest of the game.

Statistically, it seemed like the Phantoms had the game in the bag. The Phantoms rarely give up a lead when leading after two periods, going 20-0-1-1 in the regular season, and Hershey had a huge mountain to climb even to tie the game. Pheonix Copley, continuing his strong play for the Bears, made a huge save early on in the third to keep the game close and seemed to turn the tides for Hershey. The Bears got a huge goal from Chris Bourque on a deflection of a Bowey shot that fooled Lyon to bring the Bears within one goal at 4-3.

That’s when things got a bit crazy. Phantoms goaltender Alex Lyon went down shortly after the goal while trying to adjust to puck movement, and ended up having to leave the game. He is the second Phantoms goaltender to go down with starter Anthony Stolarz getting hurt prior to the start of the playoffs. That meant Lehigh Valley would have to turn to third-string goaltender and Reading Royals starter Martin Ouellette for the remainder of the game.

To be fair, it might not have mattered who was in net for the Bears’ tying goal, as Tyler Lewington fired a shot from the blue line that deflected off of a Phantoms player, and with Hampus Gustafsson providing an excellent screen. That left no chance for the first shot Ouellette would face tying things at four.

It seemed like the teams were destined for the second overtime in as many games for the Bears, but Hershey had other ideas. Chris Bourque got the puck on a cycle with Christian Djoos, similar to how they operate in a power play formation, and Bourque ripped a shot from the point through some traffic with 33 seconds remaining in regulation time. The Bears kept the Phantoms from getting any chance at a comeback and earned an unbelievable 5-4 victory over the Phantoms.

Hershey takes a commanding two games to none lead over the Phantoms going home to Giant Center for the third game on Wednesday night. The Bears have the opportunity to sweep the best of five series, and the injury to Alex Lyon leaves a void in a previous position of strength for Lehigh Valley. 7 PM puck drop at Giant Center.

PHOTOS:

Galiev scores to make it 1-1

DAAAAA BEARS.