BEARS START FAST, HANG ON TO DEFEAT SENATORS

March 13, 2015

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Casey Wellman tallied a goal and an assist and Pheonix Copley made 21 saves, and the Hershey Bears used a fast start to skate past the Binghamton Senators by a 2-1 score on Friday night at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.

The Bears got back to their success early in this contest, striking for a power play goal just 4:09 in.  Philippe Cornet faked a carry behind the Binghamton net and promptly tucked a backhand pass in front.  Chris Brown had a slam dunk at the top of the crease past Peter Mannino for his 15th goal of the season.

Hershey added to the lead just 2:43 later.  Tomas Kundratek send a head-man pass to Tim Kennedy, who carried down the left wing.  Driving to the net, Wellman slapped the diagonal pass inside the right post for his 21st of the season and a 2-0 advantage.

The Bears had another quality chance at the net front moments later, when Cornet got free of the Senators defense and one-timed a low shot from in close, but Mannino was able to hold his ground at the goal line.  The Senators then killed off a lengthy two-man Hershey power play.

Hershey’s penalty kill then held the league’s top-ranked power play off of the scoreboard on four consecutive chances, including three in the second period alone.  Neither team would find the back of the net.

In the third, Copley would make a save on a long-range wrist shot by Chris Wideman.  But the rebound got behind him and bounced along the goal line, allowing Brad Mils to jump on the chance and tip it home at 5:28 to put the Senators on the board.

Hershey held off a late rally by the Senators, and used strong defense to keep the high-shot Sens to only 22 shots on net in the game.

Copley improved to 12-3-3 with the win, while Mannino turned in a 30-save performance – which included a third-period highlight-reel stop on Tomas Kundratek – but fell to 4-8-4 on the year.

The Bears improve to 37-17-5-2 (81 points), and open up a five-point advantage as East Division leaders over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Bears return to northeastern Pennsylvania for another big battle with the Penguins tomorrow, March 14 at 7:05 PM.  Fans may listen to the game beginning at 6:25 PM on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460, WOYK-AM 1350 and via iHeart Radio (1460 AM).  

Hershey returns home to host the Manchester Monarchs on Friday, March 27 at 7:00 PM.  All fans in attendance will receive a complimentary ticket to the ARCA Racing Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup practice on June 6 courtesy of Pocono Raceway.  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 LW Dane Byers, D Steve Oleksy, C Jim O’Brien, LW Aaron Volpatti and D Patrick Wey…D Cameron Schilling was returned from the Washington Capitals earlier in the day, while C Andre Burakovsky was recalled by Washington…The Senators scratched LW David Dziurzynski, D Alex Grant, D Danny New and C Matt Tassone…D Aaron Johnson served the second of a two-game suspension…The Bears finished the night 1-for-6 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill…G Pheonix Copley improved to 7-0-2 in calendar year 2015…The Bears improved to 5-1-1-0 against the Senators in the season series…Hershey improved to 21-8-4-1 against the East Division.