CRUNCH SLIP PAST BEARS

December 29, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Carter Camper scored the tying goal on a power play to keep his recent hot streak alive, but Tye McGinn posted another two-goal game for the Syracuse Crunch as the visitors pulled away from the Hershey Bears with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night at GIANT Center.

The Bears allowed the Crunch just one shot on goal in the opening period and it didn’t come until fewer than two minutes were left on the clock.  The shot came from a clear on Syracuse’s third penalty kill.  The Bears missed on their three chances and killed the one Crunch chance without allowing a shot.

The middle period saw the Crunch grab the first goal of the game.  The Bears tried to poke the puck out of their end but McGinn turned the puck right back toward the net and scored past Dan Ellis at 9:15.

Camper answered while the Bears worked the tail end of a four-minute power play.  Paul Carey poked the rebound of a shot from Travis Boyd away from Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Camper punched it into the upper corner from the top of the crease at 17:43.

With time winding down in the period, David Broll netted the eventual game-winner with a sharp-angle shot from near the goal line at 19:48.

McGinn’s second of the game came 4:59 into the third, when he grabbed a wild rebound off of the end-wall and tucked it home just before Ellis could get across.

Ellis stopped 14 of 17 shots and fell to 8-5-3 on the season.  Vasilevskiy improved to 5-3-1 with 29 saves on 30 shots.

The Bears continue their seven-game homestand on Thursday, with a New Year’s Eve contest against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.  Face-off is set for a special 5:00 PM start.  Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES:  The Bears scratched D Erik Burgdoerfer and LW Jakub Vrana…LW Liam O’Brien served the last of a three-game suspension…C Zach Sill was recalled by Washington earlier in the day…G Mark Dekanich was reassigned to South Carolina earlier in the day… The Crunch scratched D Dylan Blujus, RW Brian Hart, LW Henri Ikonen and C Luke Pither…The Bears dropped back-to-back home games in regulation for the first time all season (11-4-0-3)…Carter Camper netted the eighth point of his last six games (3-5-8).