The Hershey Bears, coming off an impressive 6-1 road win over the Toronto Marlies on Saturday in the first game of a brief two-game road swing, fell to the Lake Erie Monsters on Sunday at Quicken Loans Arena, 6-3.
Hershey, stumbled out of the gate in the first period, registering just two shots on net in the stanza; however, one of those shots, a point blast from defenseman, Sean Collins, at 6:49, staked them to a 1-0 lead. Collins’ goal was his first of the season and the first of his AHL career.
Philippe Dupuis’ rising wrist shot at 16:07 beat Hershey goaltender, Simeon Varlamov, who was making his second consecutive start after returning from an injury, knotting the score at one.
Andrew Gordon’s 19th goal of the season at 2:07 of the second period, assisted by Collins and Kyle Wilson, gave Hershey their second one-goal lead of the game at 2-1.
Less than two minutes after Gordon’s goal, Monsters’ forward, Randy Rowe, tied the game again with his fifth goal of the season at 4:00. Mike McLean quickly followed up Rowe’s tally, notching his first goal of the season at 5:33 to give Lake Erie a 3-2 lead after the end of two periods.
Wes O’Neill’s 1st goal of the season at 2:48 of the third period, gave Lake Erie a two- goal lead, 4-2.
The never-say-die Bears crawled back into the game only 22 seconds after O’Neill’s goal when Mathieu Perreault beat Monsters’ netminder, Jason Bacashihua, at 3:10 to make it a 4-3 game. Perreault, by potting his 10th goal of the season, became the 9th Bear to register double-digit goal totals in the 2008-09 campaign.
Hershey’s penalty killing unit, ranked near the bottom of the league’s standings, surrendered a power play goal to former Bear, Matt Hendricks, at 5:55 to give Lake Erie a 5-3 lead. Hendricks’ goal, his 12th of the season, was scored while Sami Lepisto was in the penalty box serving a minor penalty for hooking.
Per Ledin’s power play goal at 10:17 took the remaining wind out of Hershey’s sails and gave Lake Erie their final margin of victory, 6-3.