BEARS ROLL OVER PENGUINS

December 26, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Dan Ellis stopped all 22 shots he faced for his first shutout with the Hershey Bears, while Carter Camper led the offense with three assists, helping the hosts blank the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 5-0 on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

Hershey came out flying in this game, scoring three times before the game was 11 minutes old.  Aaron Ness started things off by ripping a long-range slapper from the left point over the glove of Brian Foster just 34 seconds after the opening faceoff.

Mike Moore then made a nice play by carrying the puck down to the left-corner goal line, faking Foster down with a shot and then tucking a pass in front.  Chris Brown won his battle there and slipped the puck home at 1:23 for his second of the season and a 2-0 lead.

After the Bears killed off the Penguins’ only power play of the frame, the hosts would earn their first opportunity with the man advantage. Camper found the little room that was there to feed a pass to a cutting Madison Bowey from the left corner, who redirected the puck behind Foster at 10:56.

A second power play chance in the middle period would give the Bears their fourth goal of the contest.  A failed Penguins clear ended up on the stick of Bowey, who hurried a pass through the slot.  Camper fired off the pads of Foster, who turned the rebound right into the slot where Paul Carey slammed it home from the low slot at 10:03.

Another missed chance for the Penguins to clear their zone ended up costing them another tally.  Hard work by Sean Collins and Zach Sill worked the puck free to Erik Burgdoerfer, who had time to pick the left corner from the right circle at 11:22 and give the Bears a 5-0 lead.

There would be no further scoring in the game thanks in large part to Ellis, who fought off a barrage of Penguins’ chances on three consecutive power plays.  He improves to 8-4-3 on the season with his 14th career AHL shutout.  Foster took the loss, stopping 16 of 21 shots in two periods of work and fell to 1-1-1.  Casey Desmith came on in relief and stopped all seven shots he saw in the third.

The Bears continue their seven-game homestand tomorrow, December 27, with a 5:00 PM face-off against the Binghamton Senators.  Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES:  The Bears scratched LW Chris Bourque, RW Garrett Mitchell, G Justin Peters and LW Jakub Vrana…LW Liam O’Brien served the first of a three-game suspension…The Penguins scratched RW Tyler Biggs, D Barry Goers, G Tristan Jarry, C Matia Marcantuoni, D Steve Oleksy, D Harrison Ruopp and LW Tom Sestito…The Bears handed the Penguins their first shutout of the season while recording their second as a team…Carter Camper extended his point streak to four games (2-5-7) with his three assists…The Bears improved to 87-78-11 all-time against the Penguins.