Hershey Bears Wrap: Todd Nelson Away From Team, Frank, Limoges & Miroshnichenko Leading Charge, Shepard's Strong Start

The Washington Capitals continued their rampage through the early part of the season, but recent days have been less kind to their AHL-affiliate Hershey Bears.

After an excellent start to their second Calder Cup title defense, da Bears have dropped two of their last three.

All the while, head coach Todd Nelson will be stepping away from the team for family reasons, and assistants Nick Bootland and Patrick Wellar will be co-head coaches for the interim.

Despite recent adversity, though, there are some positives to look forward to for Hershey.

So, grab whatever leftover Halloween candy you have (as long as it's a Reese's), and catch up on the Capitals' AHL-affiliate news.

View the original article to see embedded media.

Oct. 30: Hershey Bears vs. Lehigh Valley Phantoms

In what I can only imagine was a funny coincidence in the AHL scheduling office, the Bears took on the Phantoms on Halloween Eve.

The Phantoms spooked the Bears into a 1-0 hole early into the game, but Jake Massie tied it up a short time later on an absolute rocket from the point. Ethen Frank and Chase Priskie would get the assists.

The Phantoms would prevail in the end, with a third-period tally that would end up being the game-winner. Hunter Shepard stopped 21 of 23, including some very nice saves throughout the game. He also did this:

Nov. 2 & 3: Hershey Bears vs. Charlotte Checkers

The Bears would settle for a weekend split with Charlotte.

On Saturday, Hershey would start the game off on a good note, with Brad Hunt getting the Bears on the board early. It would be Charlotte's game thereafter for the most part, and Hershey would fall 4-2.

Shepard stopped 25 of 28 shots in the loss. Pierrick Dubé would bring the Bears within one in the third period, with assists from Alex Limoges and Frank. Frank also had a chance to tie it on a penalty shot but wasn't able to capitalize on the opportunity.

The next night, Hershey would get revenge on the Checkers with a 4-3 shootout win. Frank redeemed himself with a pair of goals, including one off a beautiful pass from Luke Philp.

Dubé would score the lone shootout goal in the end to seal the victory, and Shepard again stood tall with 24 saves on 27 shots in the win.

Hershey Bears Storylines and Notes

- The Capitals will honor the Bears for their second consecutive Calder Cup victory on Wednesday when they take on the Nashville Predators.

- Ethen Frank continued to be an absolute beast early on in the season, getting on the score sheet in each of the aforementioned games and bringing his point total to 13 so far, good for second in the league.

Alex Limoges sits right behind him with 12, and Ivan Miroschnichenko has 11. With a couple of exceptions, the Bears have had little trouble harnessing their scoring touch so far — as is also the case for the Capitals.

- The losses to Lehigh and Charlotte are the first back-to-back losses the Bears have taken this season.

Related: Takeaways: Capitals Run Out Of Gas, Fall To Hurricanes In Tough Matchup

- Hunter Shepard has maintained an impressive showing so far this season, with a 6-2 record and a 0.932 save percentage. Clay Stevenson is dealing with an injury.

- Vincent Iorio earned a call-up to the Washington Capitals on Saturday, joining Mike Sgarbossa. Hardy Häman Aktell could have been another potential call-up option but is dealing with injury. It also seems that Iorio has also passed Ethan Bear on the depth chart.

- Speaking of Michael, while scratched the last two, he saw game action against the Rangers on the 29th, with 8:33 of ice time. He returned against Montreal on the 31st and finished with a plus/minus of +1 and 8:03 of ice time.

- Jumping down to the ECHL, Alex Suzdalev has played three games so far for the South Carolina Stingrays, with two assists so far.

Related: Why The Capitals Assigned Suzdalev To The ECHL & What It Means For His Development

- Hopefully, all is well with Nelson and his family and he's able to return to the team soon.

- Reese's Cups are the best Halloween candy, and I challenge any of you to debate me on that. If you say candy corn, you're wrong.