CARRICK HELPS BEARS TO OVERTIME WIN OVER SENATORS

January 24, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Connor Carrick scored 54 seconds into overtime, sending the Hershey Bears to their fourth consecutive win and first four-on-four victory, a 3-2 decision over the Binghamton Senators on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

Binghamton would get on the board first, and it came after a turnover by the Hershey defense.  Buddy Robinson picked off the puck directly in the middle slot, waited for Philipp Grubauer to commit and sent a sharp-angle shot into the net at 12:39.

The Bears had an apparent tying goal by Liam O’Brien waved off shortly afterward, as the play was whistled down when Senators goaltender Peter Mannino briefly squeezed and dropped O’Brien’s shot.  The puck trickled into the net but it would not count.

Hershey did get the equalizer at 12:36 of the middle frame, on a line rush involving Tim Kennedy, Chris Conner and Chris Brown.  Kennedy’s short pass came to Conner, who took the puck to the net and got a shot away that Mannino stopped low.  The puck trickled to the goal line and over it despite a valiant stick effort by Mannino, and Conner earned his ninth goal of the year.

On the Bears’ third power play, former Senators forward Jim O’Brien continued his strong play, one-timing a feed from Casey Wellman past Mannino at 15:22 for a 2-1 lead.

The lead lasted just 37 seconds, however, as Carter Camper finished a line rush with a snap shot that sailed over Grubauer’s blocker.

Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the third period, as both Grubauer and Mannino turned aside all eight shots that they faced.

The Senators would get the puck set up on the first shift of overtime, but a counter rush led by Carrick would set the stage for the winner.  Taking a feed from Kennedy, Carrick carried the puck into the Senators’ zone and found an opening at the top of the left circle.  He took a hard snap shot that Mannino tried to squeeze, but the puck found the net for Carrick’s sixth goal of the season.

Grubauer won his third straight start with 25 saves and improved to 14-9-4.  Mannino made 33 saves in a strong effort but fell to 1-3-2 on the season.

The Bears enter the All-Star break leading the East Division with a record of 23-13-4-1.

The Bears return from the All-Star break on Friday, January 30 and will visit the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.  Face-off from PPL Center is at 7:05 PM.  The game will be televised in central Pennsylvania live beginning at 7:00 PM on abc27.2, Comcast 246, Verizon Fios 461, Blue Ridge 152 and Kuhn 67.  Fans may also tune in on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460 and iHeart Radio (1460 AM) beginning at 6:25 PM.  

The Bears return home on Saturday, January 31 with a 7:00 PM matchup against the Syracuse Crunch.  Individual tickets for this and all remaining home games are available at the GIANT Center box office, online at TicketMaster.com or by calling 717-508-BEAR.


NOTES: The Bears scratched C Joel Broda, D Michal Cajkovsky, RW Garrett Mitchell, D Mike Moore, D Nate Schmidt and D Patrick Wey… The Senators scratched C Ryan Dzingel, D Alex Grant, LW Danny Hobbs, C Brad Mills, D Daniel New and D Michael Sdao…The Bears finished the night 1-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill… Three stars: 3-Camper, 2-J. O’Brien, 1-Carrick…Hershey enters the All-Star break with the most home-ice wins (16) in the AHL…The Bears won four straight games for the first time since March 29 – April 6, 2014…Hershey is three goals shy of 20,000 scored in the franchise’s 77-year history.