Recap: Bears 4, Islanders 1
Mar 26, 2025The Bridgeport Islanders (14-42-4-3), American Hockey League affiliate of the New York Islanders, fell to the Hershey Bears (39-16-6-1), 4-1, at Total Mortgage Arena on Wednesday, despite Cole Bardreau’s second-period shorthanded goal.
Pierrick Dube potted a pair of goals to lead Hershey, while Ivan Miroshnichenko and Mike Vecchione also found the back of the net. Hendrix Lapierre logged three helpers and Garrett Roe had two assists. Garin Bjorklund (1-0-0) blocked 26 of the 27 shots he faced in his AHL debut.
It was Bardreau's fourth goal of the season and his first shorthanded. It was also the seventh time the Islanders have scored a shorthanded marker this season.
Hershey took control right off the bat, racking up three goals in the opening 12 minutes, with their first tally coming 49 seconds into the contest. After Marshall Warren lost the puck, Miroshnichenko swiped it ahead and skated into the Islanders' zone on a breakaway. Bearing down on Henrik Tikkanen (6-17-3), he slipped a backhand shot five-hole to make it 1-0.
At the 7:33 mark, Grant Hutton was accessed a delay-of-game penalty, putting Hershey on its second power play. They capitalized 56 seconds later when Lapierre received a pass from Ethan Bear near the goal line and pushed the puck towards the crease. It hit Vecchione's stick and redirected into the back of the net for the eventual game winner.
Less than three minutes later, Garrett Roe fed a short pass to Dube, who sniped home a wrist shot from the left circle to expand Hershey's lead.
Bardreau got the Islanders on the board 15:34 into the second period to hand Bjorklund his only blemish of the night. Despite being down a man due to Tyce Thompson’s roughing penalty, Bardreau intercepted a Bears’ pass and darted into the offensive zone. He pulled ahead of the last defenseman for a partial breakaway before beating Bjorklund on the forehand to make it 3-1.
The Bears sealed the victory when Dube flipped the puck from his own zone into the Islanders' empty net for the 4-1 final. It came with just 2:30 to play.
Bridgeport’s power play went 0-for-1 on the night, while the penalty kill was 2-for-3. The Bears won the shot battle, 30-27. Hershey also completed the six-game season series 5-1-0-0.
Next Time Out: The Islanders face the Rochester Americans at 7:05 p.m. on Friday from Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y. The game can be seen live on AHLTV on FloHockey.