(Tommy Hendricks/Sports Talk Philly)
By Tommy Hendricks, Sports Talk Philly staff writer 
Vitek Vanecek, the AHL Player of the Week, continued his strong play this season by helping the Hershey Bears prevail over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a final of 5-2 at PPL Center on Monday night.
Even though it's the holiday season, there was no Yuletide cheer shared between the two teams.
The first period proved to be another tight checking affair between the two teams. The Phantoms held the shot advantage for the period, 10-7, and got two power plays to try to break through.
During the first man advantage Vanecek held the Phantoms off the board despite getting a few good chances.
Ryan Bourque took a hooking call at the 15:20 mark and gave Lehigh Valley an opportunity to get on the board first with their second power play.
Travis Sanheim found Colin McDonald in the slot, but with his back turned to the net. McDonald turned and fired a shot up and over the glove of Vanecek to make it 1-0 on his 13th goal of the season.
The Bears turned the tables in the second, completely dominating play. Despite not cashing in on a carryover power play time, they struck three times to take the lead. They also outshot the Phantoms, 15-8, in the period.
Hershey tied the game 4:22 into second on a goal off the rush. Chris Bourque would finish off the play on a cross-ice feed from Chandler Stephenson to make it 1-1.
Then Travis Boyd continued his success against Lehigh Valley by blasting a one-timed from the dot on the left wing circle past Alex Lyon on the power play. The goal was Boyd's fifth against the Phantoms and gave the Bears the lead.
They tacked on one more on a tip-in by Paul Carey from right in front of Lyon to make it 3-1.
The Phantoms would get back to within a goal however as Reece Willcox found Andy Miele all alone in front of the Bears net, and Miele did not waste his opportunity, potting a goal to make it 3-2.
The Phantoms got carry over power Play time of their own, with Chris Bourque going off for slashing with 59 seconds left.
The Phantoms got carryover power play time to start the third, but did not capitalize on that chance and another power play almost immediately after, and the score remained 3-2. The Bears took the momentum from their penalty kills, using it to regain their two-goal lead.
Zach Will found Ryan Bourque in the slot, and slid him the puck. Bourque attempted to throw a shot on goal, that would have gone wide, if not for Christian Thomas standing at the other side post. The puck deflected off Thomas and in to make it 4-2 as Hershey continued their dominance.
Hershey added another goal at the 14:02 mark of the period. Zach Sill one-timed a pass from Ryan Bourque into the net to make it 5-2.
It looked like the nine-day break caught up with the Phantoms the more the game went along. After the buzzer, the two teams attempted to skate off the ice. Tempers flared however, and a large gathering met at center ice. Will O'Neill got a match penalty out of all of it, defined under rule 21.1 for punching an unexpecting player in the face. O'Neill drew blood from the nose of Darren Dietz, and will most likely face a suspension from the AHL, planting the seeds for more to come in this rivalry, the scrum let the frustrations for the Phantoms out for now.
On the back of Vanecek, the Bears came in and outplayed the Phantoms for 40 minutes and got the victory, snapping the Phantoms five-game win streak and evening the season series at three wins a piece.
The Phantoms now turn their attention to the Rochester Americans, who they play both Wednesday and Friday in their last games of 2016.
Notes
- With his goal, Paul Carey now has a point in 19 straight games this season which is a league high.
Quotes
- Andy Miele on how the change in momentum in the second period impacted the game tonight: "I think we need to find ways to respond better to situations like that and get right back to our game instead of dwelling on the negative. It's just something we'll have to fix and be better at."
- Miele on the giant scrum at the end of the game: "I'm not really sure what sparked it. It's just two competitive teams, and we both dislike each other. One little thing goes wrong and everyone starts going into a melee. It's gonna happen when you play a team so many times in a year."
3 Stars
3. Vitek Vanecek (HER) – 23 saves on 25 shots
2. Paul Carey (HER) – Goal, +1
1. Chandler Stephenson (HER) – 2 Assists, +2
