CONNER NETS TWO, BEARS WIN FOURTH STRAIGHT ON ROAD

February 7, 2015

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Chris Conner tallied a pair of goals and Stan Galiev set them both up, to help the visiting Hershey Bears extend their point streak to eight games with a 3-2 victory over the Binghamton Senators at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena on Friday night.
 
Binghamton forward Buddy Robinson fed Garrett Thompson in the Bears zone to open the scoring.  He fired a shot past Pheonix Copley’s blocker to give the Sens the opening marker at the 8:53 mark.
 
Despite the Senators possession in the first half of the period, the Bears bounced back to even the score at one.  Casey Wellman fired a shot sent to him by former Sens forward Jim O’Brien, that goaltender Scott Greenham initially stopped.  However the netminder fell back over the goal line with the puck under him, giving Wellman with his 14th goal of the season.
 
Conner gave Hershey their first lead of the night on a pass from Chandler Stephenson, who delivered the quick assist from behind the Binghamton net.  Conner’s shot from the left circle put Hershey ahead at 16:11.
 
Despite each team receiving power play opportunities in the second frame, neither team was able to capitalize on the man advantage as the Bears would skate into the locker room holding the 2-1 lead.
 
Galiev’s quick backhand pass 2:33 into the third set Conner up for his second goal of the night in similar fashion, to give Hershey a two-goal cushion.
 
Colin Greening cut the lead to one on a break-in down the left wing.  His shot from a sharp angle deflected in off of Copley at 9:25.
 
Copley would rob Matt Puempel on the glove side with 2:31 left in the final period to preserve the 3-2 score and help the Bears to their second straight victory and seventh in their last eight (7-0-0-1).
 
Copley earned his eighth win of the season, tuning away 29 of 31 shots faced, and improved to 8-3-2.  Greenham made 22 saves and fell to 7-5-2.
 
Hershey is now 3-0-0-1 against the Senators this season, went above the .500 mark on the road (9-8-2-1) and improved to 26-13-4-2, owning a four-point lead in the East Division.
 
The Bears return home tomorrow, February 7 to host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:00 PM.  All fans in attendance will receive candy upon exit courtesy of the Hershey Company as the Bears celebrate Chocolate-Covered February.  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 Andre Burakovsky (assigned by Washington earlier in the day), D Michal Cajkovsky, C Tim Kennedy, RW Garrett Mitchell, D Nate Schmidt and D Patrick Wey… The Senators scratched C Ryan Dzingel, LW Danny Hobbs, C Brad Mills, D Daniel New and D Mike Sdao…The Bears finished the night 0-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill… Three stars: 3-Schneider, 2-Galiev, 1-Conner...C Kris Newbury became the AHL’s 67th player to appear in 700 games...The Bears set a new season high with four consecutive road wins.