BEARS OPEN ROAD TRIP WITH WIN AT BINGHAMTON

December 6, 2013

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Nicolas Deschamps scored two goals, Tyson Strachan chipped in three points and David Leggio made 37 saves in another stellar night in goal, helping the Hershey Bears claim a 4-2 victory over the Binghamton Senators on Friday night at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

It took only 32 seconds for the hosts to grab the game’s first goal. Carrying the puck down the right side, Derek Grant sent a low shot on net that Leggio padded into the trapezoid. The puck took a lively bounce off the boards around the net and out in front of its left side. Jim O’Brien pounced on it and tapped it home for a 1-0 lead and a collection of stuffed toys tossed from the stands.

Binghamton would make it 2-0, when Buddy Robinson finished off a two-on-one rush with Mark Stone. Stone sent a perfect saucer pass onto Robinson’s tape for a shot that beat Leggio inside the left post.

Leggio would settle down and stop the rest of the 39 total shots he faced in the game, including a glove save on Darren Kramer’s first-period breakaway down the left wing and a highlight-reel sliding pad save in the second period.

The Bears would get on the board just 1:10 after Robinson’s goal. The line of Josh Brittain, Ryan Stoa and Brandon Segal would create havoc at goaltender Nathan Lawson’s crease. A loose puck trickled to Strachan in the high slot, and the defenseman sent a snap shot under Lawson’s glove for his first Hershey goal.

The Bears would completely turn the complexion of the game with a solid second period. Josh Brittain tied the game with a power move down the right wing. The forward sped past a Senators defenseman, cut across the top of the crease and deposited a shot behind Lawson at 3:06 for the equalizer.

Just 4:33 later, Strachan took a shot from the top of the right circle that Lawson padded into the slot. The rebound came right to Deschamps, who buried his chance into a virtually empty net and a 3-2 Hershey lead.

Deschamps scored again late in the game to send the Bears to victory. With 1:21 left to play, he collected a pass in the neutral zone, skated over the Senators line and took a slap shot that deflected off the crossbar and down behind Lawson.

The Bears faced a six-on-four situation in the final 35 seconds, but Leggio and the team’s defense held on for the win.

Leggio improves to 4-5-2 with the win, while Lawson made 24 saves and fell to 8-4-0.

With the win, the Bears jumped into 11^th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 8-7-2-3.

Hershey continues its road trip with a visit to Webster Bank Arena tomorrow, December 7, for a 7:00 PM faceoff against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Bears return home to face the Senators on Sunday, December 14 at 5:00 PM. Individual tickets for this and all Hershey Bears home games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling (717) 508-BEAR or by visiting TicketMaster.com on the internet. Information on season tickets, group tickets and flex plans for the 2013-2014 Hershey Bears regular season is available by calling (717)508-BEAR.

NOTES: The Bears illness scratches were D Chay Genoway and RW Garrett Mitchell…Injury scratches were D Connor Carrick, RW Stanislav Galiev and D Tomas Kundratek…Healthy scratches were D Michal Cajkovsky, LW John Mitchell, RW Joel Rechlicz and LW Derek Whitmore…RW Casey Wellman left the game early in the third period after taking a puck to the face on a shot block with his stick…Hershey finished the night 0-for-1 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.