BEARS BATTLE BACK TO WIN THRILLER OVER PHANTOMS

December 5, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Chris Bourque scored with 20.4 seconds left on the clock, breaking a 1-1 tie and spoiling a big night in goal by Anthony Stolarz in a 2-1 Hershey Bears victory over the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

After a thoroughly dominant first ten minutes by Hershey –in which they did not allow Lehigh Valley a shot on goal until less than five minutes were left in the period – the visitors would grab the first goal.  Dan Ellis made a sprawling save on Samuel Morin from in close, but the puck slid past a pile of players out to Nick Cousins who hit pay dirt at 14:57 for a 1-0 lead.

Thanks to Stolarz, the Phantoms clung to their 1-0 lead at the second intermission as well.  The Bears outshot the Phantoms 13-5 in the middle frame.

Dustin Gazley finally figured Stolarz out at 10:23 of the third period as he headed to the net and redirected a pass from Paul Carey inside the right post and in for his fifth goal of the season.

After missing on a huge power play opportunity inside the final five minutes, the Bears battled for the go-ahead goal.  Travis Boyd zig-zagged through the neutral zone with Bourque and headed to the left faceoff circle, drawing two Phantoms players to him.  Bourque ripped a perfect give-back from Boyd over a sprawled Stolarz at 19:39 for the eventual winner.  The Phantoms had one last chance with a sixth attacker but the Bears held on.

The Bears fired a season-high 44 shots at Stolarz, who made 42 saves in a second-star effort but fell to 9-5-1.  Ellis stopped 14 of 15 shots to improve to 6-3-2.  The Bears finished 0-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.

The Bears are home to host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the first time this season tomorrow, December 6 at 5:00 PM.  Tomorrow is the annual WGAL-TV and Northwest Savings Bank Teddy Bear Toss, and all fans are invited to bring a stuffed toy to toss onto the ice after the Bears score their first goal.  Individual tickets for this and all Bears home games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES: ; The Bears scratched D Tyler Lewington, RW Garrett Mitchell, LW Liam O’Brien, D Ryan Stanton and LW Jakub Vrana…The Phantoms added C Nick Cousins and RW Colin McDonald earlier in the day; The Phantoms scratched C Cole Bardreau, RW Chris Conner, G Jason LaBarbera, D Christian Marti, RW Pavel Padakin, RW Michael Parks, D Logan Pyett, RW Jay Rosehill and C Kevin Sundher…The Bears scored inside the final minute of regulation for the second time in as many nights…The last two Bears victories have been by a 2-1 score.