Leason Helps Bears Salvage Point in 4-3 OT Loss to Phantoms
Published on January 24, 2026 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release
(Allentown, PA) - Brett Leason scored a critical goal in the final minute of regulation to tie the game and force overtime for the Hershey Bears (18-14-5-2), extending the club's overtime and point streaks, but Hershey ultimately fell to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (20-16-2-2) by a 4-3 final in sudden death on Saturday night at PPL Center.
By securing the overtime point, the Bears pushed their season-high point streak to 10 games (4-0-4-2), their longest since a franchise-record 17-game point streak in 2018-19, and making Hershey one of five teams in the American Hockey League this season to achieve a point streak of 10 games or more (Grand Rapids, 19 and 12; San Jose, 11; Bakersfield 10; Tucson, 10). The match also marked the seventh consecutive game that Hershey has played past regulation (1-0-5-1), adding to what has already become a franchise mark.
Hershey's record in the season series with Lehigh Valley is now 4-2-1-0. The two clubs will meet again three more times during the 2025-26 campaign.
NOTABLES:
Ilya Protas tallied the opening goal - and his team-leading 17th of the season - for the second consecutive contest, denting the twine at 8:10 of the first from Bogdan Trineyev and Ivan Miroshnichenko. Protas would later add an assist on Brett Leason's tying score for his team-leading ninth multi-point game of the season. Protas extended his current point streak to seven games (4g, 4a).
David Gucciardi widened the lead for the visitors to 2-0 with his third of the season at 10:52 from Brett Leason and Henrik Rybinski. The goal came during a stretch of 4-on-4 play after Lehigh Valley's Artem Guryev and Hershey's Dalton Smith were respectively assessed interference and roughing penalties at 9:47.
The Phantoms responded by taking a 3-2 lead in the second period with a trio of goals in a span of 3:20, as Zayde Wisdom, Karsen Dorwart, and Tucker Robertson scored on three successive shots by the hosts during that stretch, the fastest sequence of three goals allowed by the Bears this season.
With Garin Bjorklund pulled for an extra attacker, Leason tied the game at 3-3 at 19:42 of the third period with his ninth of the season from Protas and Miroshnichenko.
Robertson tallied his second goal of the evening at 1:47 of the extra frame to win the game for the Phantoms.
Both Alex Suzdalev and Gucciardi left the game with upper-body injuries and were ruled out for the remainder of the game.
Hershey did not have a power play during the game for the third time this season.
SHOTS: HER 28, LV 22
GOALTENDING: HER - Garin Bjorklund, 18-for-22; LV - Carson Bjarnason, 25-for-28
POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-0; LV - 0-for-1
The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they visit the Rochester Americans on Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 7:05 p.m. at BlueCross Arena. Hershey's home game against the Charlotte Checkers originally scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 25 has been postponed due to the weather forecast, with a make-up date yet to be determined. The Bears return home to host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center for Women in Sports Night.
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