The Hershey Bears entered Saturday night’s game in early-season must-win territory. It’s early in the season and not a time to panic yet; another home loss for a team that’s already had three of them would have been devastating. They battled the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in another back-and-forth game as part of a back-to-back (one that featured a 5-4 defeat in Allentown).
The Bears went to overtime and then the shootout but ended up with the 4-3 victory. It’s their second win of the season, and for a team that’s been the standard in the American Hockey League (AHL) in the past two seasons, it’s clear through six games (and with a 2-3-1 record) that they are rebuilding.
The recent win was a big one for the Bears. It was a reminder that while they have talented players and plenty of prospects who are developing for the Washington Capitals, they are far from contention. At least that’s how it feels early on in the season with a slow start and struggles on both ends. That said, Derek King is turning this team into a competitive one, one step at a time.
Hershey Playing Fast
The big thing about the Bears is that they are a younger team than the ones from recent seasons and a faster team because of it. It’s what King noted after the shootout victory. “We’re not overly big or strong,” which explains why they struggled on Friday night against the same Phantoms team, particularly the heavy line led by Zayde Wisdom. “One thing we do have to our advantage is we can skate,” he added, and it led to three goals in their win and seven in the two-game mini series.
The Phantoms, interestingly, saw the Bears as a team that wanted to forecheck. Snowden noted after the 5-4 win that “When teams pressure hard and you keep beating pressure, you just end up with a good opportunity,” and that’s how the Bears played. However, they are using their speed, not physicality, to generate pressure. King will have the team playing the right way, with their forecheck and defense setting up the offense but it will come from the skating.
The Bears in previous seasons were a heavier team. There are still some physical skaters, notably the power forward Ilya Protas, who is developing into a do-it-all center but they’ll be a great skating team. “I think we got a really good skating team, so we gotta keep meshing and we’ll be good,” Andrew Cristall noted after a game where he scored his first goal at the AHL level and added an assist in the win. The Phantoms pressure the Bears in each of the past two games, and to combat that, they must lean into their skating and moving the puck both up the ice and to the open skaters in the offensive zone.
The Confidence in Bjorklund
Garin Bjorklund got the start on Saturday after Clay Stevenson started the Friday night game. In his second start of the season, he delivered, stopping 23 of the 26 shots and all three shootout attempts in a 4-3 win. “He was excellent,” King noted after the game. He struggled in the second period, allowing a Helge Grans slapshot to get past him and a Garrett Wilson shot from the slot to go in as well. Otherwise, he helped the Bears earn their second win of the season.
The Bears have a different duo this season. It’s no longer the Hunter Shepard and Stevenson split that led them to back-to-back Calder Cup titles. Instead, it’s a duo of Stevenson, who started four of the first five games, and Bjorklund. “Since we started, our goaltending hasn’t been a problem,” King added after the game.
This team will lean on a duo throughout the season and expect both goaltenders to split starts. King will need to do so since Stevenson is the first goaltender the Washington Capitals will call up if needed, and it will require Bjorklund to step up. Likewise, Stevenson has struggled early on, and his performance against the Phantoms is one he’ll want to forget but in the long run, he’ll be better. That said, Bjorklund will take the pressure off of him.
Where Hershey Must Improve
The win was a promising sign but at 2-3-1 with a 2-2-1 record at home, it’s clear that the Bears have a lot to work on. “
We’re trying to work on everything; it’s a learning curve for these guys,” King mentioned after the recent game.
With a lot of new faces, including behind the bench, the Bears weren’t expected to be great. Yet, they have stumbled out of the gate, something the back-to-back against the Phantoms put on display.
The Bears were feeling things out in the past two games against the Phantoms. The game sped up at times, and similarly, it slowed down, allowing King to see what works and what doesn’t. One thing King noticed is that this team can win when they move the puck and skate.
It’s why a specific area of focus for the Bears is puck movement. They are struggling to get the puck out of the defensive zone, and it’s allowing the opposition to find early scoring chances. “For us, our defense needs to skate because they can skate,” King noted after the game, adding, “We did a much better job skating the puck out of our zone tonight.” Most teams try to send the puck or chip it out of the zone. The Phantoms move it with short passes and quick movement. The Bears need to have their defensemen, especially veterans like Calle Rosen, handle the puck and set up the offense. On The Road Again
The Bears struggled at home when, ideally, they could have padded the wins and found their footing to begin the season. Five of their first six games were at Giant Center, and they have yet to leave the state of Pennsylvania.
They begin a three-game road trip starting Wednesday night in Connecticut. Hershey face the Bridgeport Islanders, then they face the Springfield Thunderbirds, and then wrap things up against the Providence Bruins. The Bruins are arguably the best team in the AHL and a tough test for any team. Otherwise, the Bears play two teams that will allow them to find a rhythm. The Islanders and Thunderbirds have struggled to start the season, and they can take advantage.
