Hershey falls in wild game against Rochester, 7-6
Photo: Rochester Americans
In one of the craziest games in recent memory, the Hershey Bears fall to the Rochester Americans 7-6 in a shootout.
Hershey looked like they had this game in the bag after the first seven minutes. Travis Boyd scored 44 seconds into the match with a one-timer off of a Jeremy Langlois pass to make it 1-0 Bears.
Chris Bourque would extend the lead to 2-0 deflecting a Riley Barber shot right over the head of Linus Ullmark on the power play.
The Bears lead would get extended to three when Anthony Peluso would be found streaking down the right side by Mathias Bau to score on a breakaway. 6:56 in Hershey would be up 3-0.
But the script would be flipped on Hershey in the second period. Five straight goals for Rochester in 5:17, including two goals in 43-seconds on back to back power plays, would give them a two-goal lead under ten minutes into the middle frame.
Barber netted his second of the season on a Bears power play of their own to make it 5-4 Rochester with 9:55 remaining in the second.
Again, Rochester would respond 85-seconds later with another power play goal to get back their two-goal lead heading into the third period.
But the Bears would crawl back and tie the game in the third. First, Lucas Johansen would make it 6-5 with his second professional goal. Then Hubert Labrie would tie the game with five minutes left to force overtime.
Both teams would have their chances, but nobody could score, sending the game to the skill competition.
Pheonix Copley, in his first game this season for Hershey, would stop the first shooter Kevin Porter. Dustin Gazley would also be stopped before both C.J. Smith and Wayne Simpson would score for their respective teams in the second round. Eric Cornel would sneak one past Copley, forcing Chris Bourque to score. He would not convert, sending Hershey back to Central PA with only one point as they fall 7-6.
While the loss could be viewed in multiple ways, Hershey should be happy to leave Rochester with a point with still four potential points up for grabs this weekend. The Bears return to Giant Center with a chance at two of those points on Saturday night against Toronto.
