Bump Sparks Wild 6-4 Win at Hershey
Phantoms Finish Weekend Road Sweep in Chocolatetown
February 21, 2026
Hershey, PA – Alex Bump (9th, 10th) capped off a big three-goal weekend while opening the scoring in a chaotic, see-saw rivalry battle at the Hershey Bears with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms eventually hanging on for a hard-fought 6-4 win. Oliver Bonk (3rd) also scored in the three-goal opening frame and Christian Kyrou (8th) tacked on to the advantage in the second period.
Lehigh Valley (23-22-4) was looking mighty comfortable with a 4-1 lead early in the second period but the Bears rallied for three straight to equalize at 4-4 before Alexis Gendron’s (9th) deflection of a Hunter McDonald blast put the Phantoms back ahead for good. Zayde Wisdom (9th) sealed the win with an empty-netter.
It was certainly a memorable way for Lehigh Valley to record its milestone 400th win all-time since the Phantoms franchise arrived in downtown Allentown in 2014.
But it also wasn’t easy.
The Phantoms had to kill back-to-back Hershey power plays late in the third while Carson Bjarnason was tested in tight inducing several athletic and desperation saves. Kyrou swept one away that was rolling practically on the goal line. And Hunter McDonald made a save of his own on the right-wing side of the crease to deny Henrik Rybinski (8th, 9th) who had already scored twice for the Bears and came perilously close to a hat trick on multiple occasions.
The Phantoms finished an impressive two-game series sweep on the road while improving to 5-2-2 against their I-78 rivals this season.
Defenseman Jon McDonald (2nd) of Hershey perhaps was foreshadowing the crazy contest to come when his dump-in from the red line bounced off a stanchion and somehow rolled into the net that Bjarnason had left with expectations of receiving the puck behind the goal. The unusual tally at 2:17 into the game gave Hershey the initial 1-0 lead.
But then the rookies went to work. Alex Bump buried a one-timer from beneath the right dot on a nifty setup by Lane Pederson driving into the slot and then slipping it across to his linemate at 4:13 to tie the game at 1-1.
Bump’s next goal came on a chip at the net front on the power play with Phil Tomasino finding him down low. It was the first multi-goal game in the regular season for Alex Bump although he did have a two-goal game for the Phantoms in Game 1 of the Calder Cup Playoffs against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last year.
Bonk backpedaled his way from the blue line to the left dot providing an opportunity to snipe for his third goal of the season at 18:19 into the first. The Phantoms enjoyed a 3-1 lead at the intermission.
Hershey (22-20-8) was forced to change goalies early in the second period when Bump crashed into Mitch Gibson. Bump was okay. But Gibson had to exit in place of Clay Stevenson.
Sustained pressure in the Bears’ zone again yielded successful results as Hershey couldn’t find an exit. The Phantoms got in an early second-period line change and wore down the Hershey defenders allowing Kyrou the opportunity to slip through a pair of skaters and into the slot where he sniped past the glove of Stevenson at 4:32 into the middle frame putting the Orange and Black ahead 4-1.
Hershey was ready to get on the comeback trail and struck for three in a row in just under three minutes in a rapid onslaught that evened the score at 4-4. Henrik Rybinski bumped a Phantoms player off the puck and walked in on goal to get the rally started. Rybinski again scored, this time on a deflection of a big blast by Louie Belpedio. And newcomer Kaden Bohlsen struck in his Hershey debut when Matt Strome dug the puck away on the forecheck and then Bohlsen followed the rebound of his own shot for a quick second effort which he pushed past Bjarnason to tie the game at 4-4.
The Phantoms found the go-ahead goal once again with strong pressure in the Hershey zone. Jacob Gaucher got to the puck in the corner and Hunter McDonald’s massive blast from center point was redirected en route by Gendron at 12:50 into the second as Lehigh Valley pushed in front again at 5-4.
Even with all the goals, both sides developed several terrific chances that wouldn’t go as part of a wild contest in which both teams traded quality scoring tries back and forth. Max Guenette and Anthony Richard had breakaways in the second period that were fought off by Stevenson or hit the post. Guenette’s breakaway late in the second frame came right after a courageous block by Zayde Wisdom on the penalty kill. There were several other big plays and huge blocks along the way in the gutty effort.
Consecutive penalty kills held off the Bears in the third. So did Kyrou with his sweep away along the goal-line and McDonald with his save while stationed alongside Bjarnason who also made several terrific denials in the period including on Andrew Cristal from the right of the cage while Bjarnason leaned forward and somehow got a piece of both chances.
Wisdom weaved through the defense on a connection from Gaucher to push home an empty-netter with 1:45 left to mostly clinch the exciting weekend sweep on the road.
The Phantoms return to PPL Center on Wednesday, February 25 against the Providence Bruins before closing out the month with consecutive home tilts against the Hartford Wolf Pack on February 28 and March 1.
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