TONIGHT'S GAME PREVIEW: SENATORS at BEARS

April 1, 2012

TONIGHT'S GAME NOTES
BINGHAMTON SENATORS at HERSHEY BEARS
Sunday, April 1, 2012 - 5:00 PM
GIANT Center

REFEREES:  Terry Koharski (#10) & Jamie Koharski (#84)
LINESMEN:  Scott Adams (#20) & Tom George (#61)

BEARS vs. SENATORS:  Welcome to GIANT Center for tonight’s matchup between your HERSHEY BEARS and the Binghamton Senators.  The teams meet for the final time in their eight-game season series.  Binghamton is the top AHL developmental affiliate of the Ottawa Senators.
 
THE LAST TIME:  On Wednesday in Binghamton, Stephane Da Costa got things started by scoring the opening tally 5:28 into the game, but the BEARS rattled off four unanswered goals – three on the power play – to take a 5-2 win away from the Senators and earn the club’s seventh consecutive victory.  Also posting seven straight wins was goaltender Dany Sabourin, who turned aside 35 shots in the contest.  Mike Carman tied the game with the first of his two goals on the night, and with time winding down in the opening period, Tomas Kundratek pitched in his 12^th goal of the campaign to give the BEARS the lead for good.  Chris Bourque and Ryan Potulny scored on both ends of a lengthy two-man advantage early in the second to pad the lead.  Andre Petersson cut the Sens’ deficit to two with his team-leading 23^rd goal of the season shortly afterward, but his team would take another penalty and went to work on the kill with goaltender Robin Lehner coming on to replace starter Mike McKenna.  The BEARS didn’t score on the advantage, but Carman punctuated his team’s win by cleaning up a rebound of Boyd Kane’s chance in front at 13:59 of the second to round out the scoring.
 
SEASON SERIES (6-1-0-0):
Fri. October 7                        @Binghamton                      Broome County VM Arena                  3-2          W
Sun. October 30                   BINGHAMTON                      GIANT Center                                       3-2          W
Wed. November 9               BINGHAMTON                      GIANT Center                                       3-0          W
Sat. January 14                    @Binghamton                      Broome County VM Arena                  6-4          W
Fri. January 20                     @Binghamton                      Broome County VM Arena                  3-4          L
Sat. March 3                          BINGHAMTON                      GIANT Center                                       3-0          W           
Wed. March 28                     @Binghamton                      Broome County VM Arena                  5-2          W
Sun. April 1                           BINGHAMTON                      GIANT Center
 
RECENT RECAPS:  The BEARS saw that seven-game win streak snapped last night with a 3-2 setback to the St. John’s IceCaps at GIANT Center.  The IceCaps were able to clinch the Atlantic Division title with the victory, which was highlighted by a two-goal performance from Patrice Cormier.  Rookie netminder Chris Carrozzi stopped 24 shots in net for his first AHL victory.  The BEARS had some positives come out of the night as Mike Carman notched his third goal in the last two games at 12:36 of the first, when he redirected a Sean Collins point shot home.  Ryan Potulny scored with 13.7 seconds left in regulation to extend his goal-scoring streak to five games, and also make for a nail-biting finish to the contest.  Dany Sabourin, in his ninth consecutive start in goal, made 22 saves which included two shorthanded one-on-one opportunities for the IceCaps.  Coupled with losses by Portland (OT) and Adirondack (regulation), the BEARS were still able to clinch a berth in the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs.
 
The defending Calder Cup champion Senators, meanwhile, were officially eliminated from playoff contention and suffered a 2-1 overtime setback to the Syracuse Crunch last night in the Southern Tier.  Patrick Wiercioch scored the lone goal for the Sens, while Dan Sexton and Kyle Cumiskey netted the Syracuse markers.  Goaltender Robin Lehner suffered his 20^th loss of the season despite turning in a solid performance with 39 saves.
 
CONFERENCE STANDINGS UPDATE (Seeds 1-8 Qualify for Calder Cup Playoffs; 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 Match Up in Round One):
POS         TEAM                                       GP           W             L              OTL         SOL         PTS          WIN%      GF           GA
1.             **Norfolk                                  70            49            18            1              2              101          .721         252          172
2.             **St. John’s                              69            40            21            5              3              88            .638         221          192
3.             Bridgeport                               69            36            24            3              6              81            .587         213          204
4.             *Wilkes-Barre/Scranton          70            41            22            2              5              89            .636         221          203
5.             *HERSHEY                               69            38            21            4              6              86            .623         228          197
6.             Connecticut                             69            34            24            6              5              79            .572         199          192
7.             Syracuse                                                70            33            27            5              5              76            .543         224          221
8.             Manchester                             70            36            31            0              3              75            .536         189          192
* Clinched Playoff Berth
**Clinched Division
 
IT’S ON TO THE POSTSEASON:  The BEARS will make their sixth consecutive appearance in the postseason, and 16^th in the past 18 seasons, when the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway in just over two weeks.  Three of the BEARS’ 11 championships came in the past five years (2006, 2009, 2010).
 
CARMAN CRANKS IT UP:  C Mike Carman has registered three goals in his past two games.  He tallied the game’s first goal last night against St. John’s after his two-goal and second-star performance at Binghamton on Wednesday.
PP-POTULNY:  Although Ryan Potulny saw his power-play goal streak stopped at four games, the BEARS’ center did notch his team-leading 28^th of the season with a four-on-four strike in last night’s final seconds, maintaining the AHL’s longest active goal streak (five games) and second-longest point streak (seven games).  Potulny leads the AHL with 16 power play goals, ranks 12^th in AHL scoring (28-30-58) and leads the BEARS in goals (28) and game-winners (5).
 
HANDY DANY:  G Dany Sabourin saw his seven-game win streak halted last night against St. John’s but still finished off a remarkable month of March.  He posted a record of 8-1-1 in 11 appearances, a save percentage of .935 and a goals-against average of 1.94.
 
GETTING THE JUMP:  HERSHEY leads the AHL in first goals (42) and first-period goals (77), and hold the second-ranked offense (3.30 goals/game).
 
HEAD-TO-HEAD:Injured RW Graham Mink leads the head-to-head scoring against the Senators with four goals and five assists in six games.  Chris Bourque, coming off of his four-point performance on Wednesday, shows (3-5-8) in the series.  Andre Petersson (3-1-4), Corey Locke (1-3-4) and Patrick Wiercioch (1-3-4) are all tied at the top of the Sens’ scoring lead against HERSHEY.
 
BEARS vs. SENATORS – TEAM LEADERS:
                                                                HERSHEY                                                              Binghamton
Games Played                                     Julien Brouillette (68)                                         P. Cannone, W. Hamilton, M. Hoffman (70)                  
Goals                                                     Ryan Potulny (28)                                                Andre Petersson (23)
Assists                                                  Chris Bourque (62)                                             Corey Locke (31)
Points                                                    Chris Bourque (88)                                             Mike Hoffman (47)
PIMs                                                       Joel Rechlicz (237)                                             Tim Conboy (171)
Plus/Minus                                            Boyd Kane (+15)                                                  Tim Conboy (+5)
Power-Play Goals                               Ryan Potulny (16)                                                Mike Hoffman (9)
Shorthanded Goals                            Chris Bourque (5)                                                               Jim O’Brien (3)
Game-Winning Goals                        Ryan Potulny (5)                                                  P. Cannone, J. O’Brien, A. Petersson (4)
 
Wins                                                       Braden Holtby (20)                                              Mike McKenna (14)
Goals-Against Average                      Braden Holtby (2.61)                                           Mike McKenna (2.98)
Save Percentage                                 Dany Sabourin (.910)                                         Mike McKenna (.917)
 
BEARS vs. SENATORS – SPECIAL TEAMS:
                                                                HERSHEY                                                              Binghamton
Power Play                                            85-for-325 (26.2%) – 1^st in AHL                        56-for-283 (19.8%) – 6^th in AHL
Penalty Kill                                            288-for-338 (85.2%) – 3^rd in AHL                     216-for-277 (78.0%) – 30^th in AHL
 
BEARS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:             
3/30/12                  DEL        G             Braden Holtby                      Recalled from loan by Washington (NHL)
3/29/12                  ADD        C             Billy Ryan                              Signed to PTO
3/29/12                  ADD        G             Braden Holtby                      Returned on loan from Washington (NHL)
3/28/12                  ADD        D             Cameron Schilling              Signed to ATO
3/28/12                  DEL        C             Cody Eakin                           Recalled from loan by Washington (NHL)
 
SENATORS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
3/31/12                  ADD        D             Josh Godfrey                        Recalled from loan to Elmira (ECHL)
3/30/12                  ADD        LW          Corey Cowick                       Reassigned by Ottawa (NHL) from Elmira (ECHL)
3/30/12                  DEL        D             Josh Godfrey                        Returned on loan to Elmira (ECHL)
3/27/12                  ADD        D             Chris Wideman                   Signed to ATO
 
BEARS AMONG THE AHL:                                                             
LW Chris Bourque: 1^st – scoring (26-62-88); 1^st – assists (62); 1^st – PP assists (36); 1^st – PP scoring (13-36-49); T,1^st – SH goals (5); T,2^nd – SH points (5-1-6); 2^nd – shots on goal (263); T,3^rd – PP goals (13).
C Keith Aucoin: 1^st – SH assists (5); 2^nd – assists (59); T,2^nd – shorthanded points (1-5-6); T,3^rd – SO winners (2); 2^nd – PP assists (32); 2^nd – PP scoring (6-32-38); 4^th – scoring (11-59-70).
RW Jacob Micflikier: T,3^rd – PP goals (13); T,5^th – PP points (13-17-30); 20^th – scoring (21-35-56).
C Ryan Potulny: 1^st – PP goals (16); 4^th – PP scoring (16-15-31); 12^th – scoring (28-30-58).
D Patrick McNeill: T,3^rd (D) – PP assists (20); T,5^th (D) – PP scoring (4-20-24); T,12^th (D) – scoring (9-27-36).
D Tomas Kundratek:  1^st (D) – shooting percentage (12/73 = 16.4%).
RW Joel Rechlicz: 1^st – PIM (237).
C Cody Eakin:1^st (R) – shootout goals (6).
 
SENATORS AMONG THE AHL:
RW Andre Petersson:  15^th (R) – scoring (23-18-41).
C Pat Cannone:  5^th (R) – shots on goal (183); T,17^th (R) – scoring (17-23-40).