AHL SCORING LEADER TALLIES FOUR POINTS IN BEARS' 7TH STRAIGHT WIN

March 28, 2012

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Chris Bourque recorded four points, Mike Carman scored twice, and Dany Sabourin made 35 saves for his seventh consecutive victory and helped the HERSHEY BEARS to their seventh consecutive victory as well, with a 5-2 decision over the Binghamton Senators on Wednesday night at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

The Senators got on the board first at 5:28 of the first period when Stephane Da Costa drove down the right wing and tried to catch a pass from Patrick Wiercioch.  The puck deflected off of Da Costa’s skate and through Dany Sabourin’s pads for the 1-0 lead.

Another fluke goal brought the BEARS even at one goal each at the 14:59 mark, when Bourque took a slap shot from the top of the right circle.  The puck deflected off of a Binghamton stick and into the slot, and with starting goaltender Mike McKenna playing Bourque’s shot, the puck deflected a second time into a virtually open net off of Carman.

With time winding down in the period, the BEARS took the lead for good when Tomas Kundratek fired a slap shot from the left circle on a power play, beating McKenna at 19:50.

Immediately after the goal, the Senators took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and handed the BEARS a two-man advantage early in the second period.  The visitors made them pay on both ends, with Bourque scoring on a wrist shot from the slot 33 seconds into the period.  Ryan Potulny then buried his league-leading 16th power play goal of the season when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Kyle Greentree behind McKenna at 3:33.

After Senators forward Andre Petersson scored to bring Binghamton within two goals at 3:49, the BEARS were handed another power play chance.  Robin Lehner replaced McKenna at this point and helped stop the opportunity.  But Carman followed up a rebound from Boyd Kane for his second goal of the night at 13:59, finishing off the scoring.  Rookie Matt Puempel was awarded a third-period penalty shot but Sabourin made the pad stop.

Sabourin wins his seventh consecutive start with 35 saves and improves to 18-9-4, including an 8-0-1 mark in March.  McKenna was tagged with the loss, stopping 13 of 17 shots.  Lehner earned no decision with 14 shots on 15 saves in 34:37 of work.

The BEARS finished the night 3-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

The win vaults the BEARS into fourth place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 38-20-4-6 (86 points).

The BEARS return home on Saturday to host the St. John’s IceCaps at 7:00 PM.  A limited number of tickets remain for the contest. 

Tickets for this and all remaining regular-season home games are on sale by calling (717) 508-BEAR, or by visiting ticketmaster.com.

Game Recap:  http://theahl.com/stats/official-game-report.php?game_id=1009648

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