FAST START PUSHES BEARS TO SEVENTH STRAIGHT HOME WIN

December 12, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Chris Bourque added an empty-net tally to his two assists and Connor Carrick scored two more goals, and the Hershey Bears rode a four-goal opening period to a 5-3 finish over the Binghamton Senators on Saturday night at GIANT Center to extend their home winning streak to seven games.

Hershey caught the Binghamton defense flat-footed in the opening twenty minutes.  Just 2:19 into the contest, Riley Barber worked free of coverage at the net front to jam a rebound past Andrew Hammond for his fifth goal of the season.

The Bears made it 2-0 when Carrick ripped a slap shot into the upper-left corner off of a nice feed from Liam O’Brien at 11:47.

Just :34 later, on the Bears’ first power play of the night, Sean Collins set up at the top of the crease and redirected a Carrick pass behind Hammond for a 3-0 lead.

The line of Bourque, Barber and Chandler Stephenson would then lead a three-on-two rush inside the final minute of the period.  Stephenson finished the play with a wrist shot from a sharp angle at 19:25, giving the Bears a 4-0 lead at the intermission.  The Senators avoided more disaster by killing off a full two minutes of two-man disadvantage.

The Senators would get two back in a middle period featuring flaring tempers.  Colin Greening got his team on the board at 10:01, flying through two Bears defenseman and snapping a shot off of the far post behind Justin Peters.

Eric O’Dell later picked up a drop pass from Ryan Dzingel on a slow entry into the Bears’ zone.  He cut to the slot and sent a wrist shot under the crossbar at 15:57, cutting the Hershey lead to 4-2.

The Bears’ lead was sliced to one goal with just 4:28 left in regulation.  Buddy Robinson battled at the net front, and got a stick on a pass from Fredrik Claesson to deflect the puck past Peters.

But with Hammond on the bench for a sixth attacker, Dustin Gazley blocked a clearing bid right to Bourque, who turned a shot from inside the blue line into the vacated net at 19:44 and sealed the win.

Peters made 29 saves to win is second straight start and improved to 7-3-3.  Hammond dropped to 0-2-0 in stopping 27 of 31 shots.  Hershey finished 1-for-8 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

The Bears travel to Connecticut for a battle against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tomorrow, December 13.  Face-off from the Webster Bank Arena is set for 5:00 PM.  Fans may listen to the broadcast beginning at 4:20 on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460, via the Caps Mobile App and Caps Radio 24/7, via the iHeartRadio App (Fox Sports 1460 Harrisburg), or online at CapsRadio247.com and FoxSports1460.com.  The game may be viewed for a small fee at AHLLive.com.

The Bears return home to host the Toronto Marlies on Saturday, December 19 at 7:00 PM.  The first 5,000 fans will receive a Bears-branded snow globe courtesy of UGI.  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 F Austin Fyten, D Tyler Lewington, RW Garrett Mitchell and LW Jakub Vrana…The Senators scratched LW Darian Dziurzynski, C Danny Hobbs, D Guillaume Lepine, RW Tobias Lindberg, D Michael Sdao and D Nick Tuzzolino…The teams met for the 99th time in history, and the Bears improved to 61-29-9 against the Senators…Chris Bourque extended his point streak to five games with his three-point effort and shows (3-5-8) on the streak…Chandler Stephenson extended his home point streak to five games with his goal (1-4-5), a goal that ended up as the game-winner.