Video replays showed that Norfolk Admirals right wing Mike Peluso kicked the puck into the Hershey net to give the Admirals a 1-0 lead early in their game with Hershey at the Giant Center.



Pucks intentionally kicked into the net are not allowed by rule but referee Craig Spada let the goal stand, despite vehement protest from the Bears.



For some reason, that goal affected Hershey's play for the rest of the period. The Bears took bad penalties, did a bad job of killing off the penalties and generally did a lot of running around and chasing the Admirals.



The period ended with Norfolk ahead 4-0. Those four goals were too much of a mountain for the Bears to scale and they fell, 4-1.



"That goal was absolutely kicked in," said Hershey coach Mike Foligno. "That goal caused us to lose the focus we had going into this game."



A victory would have placed the Bears in a tie for first place with Norfolk in the Western Conference's South Division. Instead, the Bears are four points behind the Admirals with three games in hand.



While Foligno was adamant that the goal should have been disallowed, he was also bothered that the Bears let the call affect their play.



"That's a weakness right now," he said. "For 10 minutes, we allowed them to dominate. The frustration allowed them to get a couple of more power plays and we couldn't recover."



Hershey's Rob Voltera went to the penalty box after hooking Matt Henderson just 2:38 into the game and teammate Alex Ryazantsev nearly followed him in 22 seconds later when he was called for a delay of the game penalty.



Skating with a 5-on-3 power play, Norfolk defenseman Dmitri Tolkunov took a shot that caromed off the boards behind the Hershey net and ended up in front of Hershey goalie Phil Sauve.



The next second, it was in the net and, with a pointing motion, Spada signaled that the puck had gone over the goal line. A puck can accidentally ricochet of a skate and into the net. But replays indicated that Mike Peluso intentionally kicked the puck into the net.



Much discussion followed but Spada stuck by the call.



Hershey missed a chance to draw even when Norfolk goalie Michael Lehighton made a strong save on Joe Goodenow's rebound shot from the slot.



Then the roof caved in on the Bears.



Norfolk had just killed a Hershey power play and the Admirals' Igor Radulov chased a clearing pass into the Bears' end. Hershey failed to pick him up and Radulov curled out of the corner and tucked a backhand shot past Sauve.



The bad goal made it two goals on just three shots and brought a Hershey timeout.



The timeout, however, didn't slow the Admirals, who went on a power play after a Steve Brule tripping penalty. Norfolk worked the puck around the Hershey zone and tic-tac-toe, er, Tolkunov-Brett McLean-Henderson and the Ads were up 3-0.



Six shots, three goals.



"We left Phil high and dry several times," said Hershey center Steve Moore. "The team takes responsibility for that."



Norfolk scored its third power play of the period -- this against a Hershey team that entered the game with the best home penalty-kill in the league -- in the closing minutes when McLean banged the puck home off a scramble in front of Sauve.



Four goals against on nine shots but Foligno stuck with Sauve, who had recorded his third shutout of the season Saturday night against the Phantoms. Sauve then made 19 straight saves over the second and third periods.



"It was a character check," Foligno said. "You want to see how people respond in tough circumstances. The guys, including Phil, battled back."



Hershey had the better of play over the second and third periods but it was enough to generate only one goal, that coming from Moore late in the second period.



"It seemed like everything that could go wrong did go wrong in that first period," Moore said. "We can't let (bad goals) rattle us and take us off our game. I think we got back on track a little bit in the second period."



The Bears had some chances in the third period but Lehighton made the saves and his teammates prevented most rebounds.     Notes: The Bears played without forwards Charlie Stephens and Riku Hahl, both still on recall to Colorado. Stephens is the Bears' leading point-producer against Norfolk with five points in four games. ... blog comments powered by Disqus