LAWSON BACKSTOPS SENATORS TO VICTORY OVER BEARS

December 26, 2013

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Nathan Lawson turned aside 32 shots while Cole Schneider factored into all of the Binghamton Senators’ scoring in a 4-1 victory over the Hershey Bears on Thursday night at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

The red-hot Nicolas Deschamps did it again for the Bears while the visitors were working on their second power play of the first period. Taking aim at the right side of the net after gathering a pass from Brandon Segal, Deschamps blasted a shot past a screened Lawson at 16:12 to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

The hosts then turned things around in the second, with help from their goaltender. Peter LeBlanc was denied when Lawson lifted his left pad to stop the Bears forward from point-blank range, following a Senators turnover. That save buoyed the hosts, as they would later tie the game on their first power play of the night. After David Leggio made a lunging save on Schneider, Stephane Da Costa jumped to the loose puck and fired it into the net at 13:36.

Binghamton took a 2-1 lead with 1:58 left in the period, when Schneider picked up the rebound of a nice save by Leggio on Jim O’Brien and scooped it into the upper left corner.

Lawson again helped his team stay in the game, stopping Deschamps on a shorthanded breakaway early in the third.

Da Costa then scored his second of the game at 9:35 of the third, giving the Senators insurance. He deked Leggio and banked a shot from his backhand off of the Bears backstop and across the goal line.

Schneider hit the empty net with 0.1 left on the clock to seal the win.

Leggio drops to 7-9-2 on the season, making 26 saves on 29 shots. Lawson improves to 10-4-0.

The Bears record now stands at 12-11-2-3 on the season.

Hershey returns home tomorrow, December 27 for a 7:00 PM faceoff against the Syracuse Crunch. 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 injury scratches were D Julien Brouillette, RW Stanislav Galiev, D Tomas Kundratek, RW Garrett Mitchell and D Patrick Wey…The healthy scratches were D Brett Flemming and RW Joel Rechlicz…Hershey finished the night 1-for-6 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill...Reigning CCM/AHL Player of the Week, LW Nicolas Deschamps, extended his goal-scoring streak to four games with his first-period goal…The four-game goal streak is tied for the second-longest in the AHL this season…The goal also extended his point streak to six games…Deschamps has six goals and five assists in the span.