SPRINGFIELD ― The Springfield Thunderbirds (14-9-2-1) battled their way back from a three-goal deficit before falling 4-3 in a shootout against the Hershey Bears (23-6-0-0) on Friday inside the Thunderdome.
Vadim Zherenko got the start in between the pipes for the home team and gave his team a chance to win, stopping 32 of 35 shots he faced from Hershey skaters on the night. On the other end of the ice, Hunter Shepard earned his second straight win over Springfield on a much busier night for him, denying 34 shots by T-Birds skaters.
The first golden opportunity for the T-Birds came off the stick of centerman Drew Callin. After Callin broke into the Hershey zone, he quickly dished the puck to the stick of Mathias Laferriere. With Laferriere streaking down the right wing, he made a great pass back to Callin, who was cutting towards the net on a give-and-go. Callin got a stick on it for the redirect, but Shepard was up to the task and made the stop at the 9:32 mark of the period, keeping the game scoreless.
The stalemate carried into the back half of the period before the visitors struck first on the scoreboard. After picking up the puck in the corner, Pierrick Dube circled the top of the circle and moved toward Zherenko. Dube found some daylight and fired a perfect glove-side shot past the T-Birds netminder, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead at 14:28.
The Bears added to their lead not long after. On their first power play of the night, defenseman Lucas Johansen went left to right at the blue line and fired a shot at Zherenko. Jimmy Huntington parked himself near the crease and got his stick on the puck to tip it past Zherenko to make it 2-0 at 16:55.
It only took 11 seconds for the Bears to add to their lead to start the second frame. Ethen Frank took the puck from Joe Snively after a weird bounce off the end boards and fired it home past Zherenko to make it 3-0 Bears.
Joey Duszak finally got the T-Birds on the board with 6:06 left in the period. The defenseman went one-on-one, beating Dylan McIlrath with a slick move before ripping it over Shepard’s shoulder to make it 3-1. Just 30 seconds later, Jakub Vrana finished on a pretty feed from Ryan Suzuki for his first goal as a member of the Thunderbirds, and the deficit was down to a single goal heading into the third.
Will Bitten almost evened up the score on the man advantage as the game entered the third. With Duszak circling back and looking at his options up ice, Bitten was able to find an open lane. Duszak found the winger and hit him with a perfect pass to send Bitten in on a breakaway. Unfortunately, Bitten couldn’t settle the puck on his stick but still managed to get the shot off, which Shepard smothered.
Springfield’s relentless attack in the third period finally paid off to even up the score. Jamieson Rees circled behind Shepard’s net and found linemate Zach Dean right above the goalie’s crease. Dean took the pass from Rees and found a crack in the armor past Shepard to tie the game up at 3-3 with 11:08 to go.
The chaotic third period did not see any more goals, and the two squads moved to the sudden death overtime period.
The Thunderbirds just missed ending the game in overtime, with Dylan Coghlan and Vrana both barely missing the net on two prime scoring opportunities. Coghlan’s one-timer on a feed from Zach Bolduc was the best chance of the overtime, but Shepard just got a piece of it with his blocker to make the save. Springfield outshot Hershey by a 3-1 margin, but the score remained deadlocked as the teams went into a shootout.
Vrana almost got Springfield on the board in the second round of the shootout, as the winger made a beautiful deke to get Shepard to bite, but missed off the crossbar with a backhander. On the next shot, it was Dube’s one-on-one with Zherenko that proved to be the winner, as the winger found a hole in between Zherenko’s glove and left arm for the goal to ultimately give Hershey a 4-3 victory.
The T-Birds continue their homestand tomorrow night for an Atlantic Division showdown against the Bridgeport Islanders, with puck drop set for 7:05 p.m. at the Thunderdome.
