After losing at home on Friday night, the Springfield Thunderbirds dropped the second of a home-and-home with the Hershey Bears on Saturday by a 4-3 count.
The Bears got early first period goals from Travis Boyd and Chandler Stephenson to chase T-Birds starter Reto Berra at the 7:55 mark. Berra finished with 2 saves on 4 shots.
Christian Thomas beat Mike McKenna 1:34 into the second stanza to give Hershey a three-goal cushion.
Springfield got on the board when Anthony Greco bagged his second of the season from Dryden Hunt and Mike Sgarbossa at 9:34.
Jared McCann, in his second game since being sent down by the Florida Panthers, scored his first in a Thunderbirds uniform 2:08 later. Paul Thompson and Michael Downing combined on the assists.
Hershey’s Boyd notched his second of the tilt 3:49 into the final frame to put the Bears back up by two.
Shane Harper tallied for the second straight game, from Sgarbossa and Thomas Schemitsch to complete the scoring with 3:59 left in regulation. The assist was Schemitsch’s first AHL point.
Vitek Vanecek only needed to make 16 saves to post the win while McKenna took the loss, finishing with 19 stops in relief of Berra.
The Thunderbirds (7-7-2-2) are off until Friday when they host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the first of three weekend games.