BEARS COME BACK FOR A WILD OVERTIME WIN OVER SENATORS

January 2, 2016

HERSHEY, Pa. – Chris Bourque’s goal 2:24 into the three-on-three overtime capped off a comeback from a 5-1 deficit, and sent the Hershey Bears to a 6-5 victory over the Binghamton Senators on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

Ryan Penny put the visitors on the board first with a shorthanded tally, as a pass attempt by the Bears toward the point went right into Penny’s skating lane.  He beat Justin Peters with a low shot at 4:24 for the 1-0 advantage.

Just 1:33 later, the Bears would answer back.  Garrett Mitchell took the puck hard to the net from the left wing and got a backhand shot off that Chris Driedger knocked aside.  Nathan Walker pounced on the rebound and slipped it home, tying the game.

But Binghamton would regain their lead before the intermission as Cole Schneider fired a cross-ice pass that was picked up and fired home by Matt Puempel at 13:03.

Two quick strikes by the visitors would end Peters’ night and bring Dan Ellis on in relief.  At the 2:03 mark, Travis Ewanyk would tuck a shot home at the expiration of a Bears power play to make it 3-1.  Buddy Robinson then got behind the Hershey defense just 38 seconds later, waited Peters out and slipped a shot home for a 4-1 advantage.

Ryan Dzingel would then find daylight behind Ellis, collecting a pass from Eric O’Dell and tucking a wraparound just over the line under Ellis’ right pad at 15:01 for a 5-1 lead.  The goal would require a look at video replay and was confirmed.

Hershey began their comeback, scoring twice before the period expired.  Walker brushed off forward Danny Hobbs with the puck on his stick on the left boards, headed toward the slot and unleashed a hard wrist shot that beat Driedger over the glove at 16:41.

Bourque then found Travis Boyd alone in the slot for another wrist shot that sailed past Dreidger at 19:36, cutting the deficit to two.

Sean Collins would bring the Bears within one goal at 12:07 of the third, standing in front of Driedger to deflect a Madison Bowey point shot into the net.

Mitchell completed the comeback with a wrist shot that dropped under the glove of Driedger with 1:12 left in regulation time.

In overtime, Ellis would thwart a three-on-one with a save that Bowey chipped all the way out to center ice.  Bourque raced after it and then skated toward Driedger, deked to his left and lifted a shot into the net for the winner.

Ellis stopped 20 of 21 shots in relief and improved to 9-5-3 on the season.  Driedger stopped 26 of 32 shots and fell to 8-7-0.  Both teams finished 0-for-2 on the power play.

The Bears hit the road to take on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers tomorrow, January 3.  Face-off from Webster Bank Arena is slated for 5:00 PM.  Fans may catch the broadcast beginning at 4:20 PM on the Bears Radio Network of afflilates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460, via the Capitals App (Caps Radio 24/7), via the iHeartRadio App (Fox Sports 1460 Harrisburg), online at FoxSports1460.com and CapsRadio247.com.  Fans may watch the game for a small fee at AHLLive.com. 

The Utica Comets make their first-ever regular-season visit to GIANT Center for the Bears’ next home game on Sunday, January 10.  Face-off is set for 5:00 PM.  All fans in attendance will receive a complimentary one-day pass to HERSHEYPARK, valid through July 31, 2016.  Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES:  The Bears scratched RW Caleb Herbert, C Chandler Stephenson and LW Jakub Vrana...The Senators scratched D Ben Harpur, RW Tobias Lindberg, G Matt O’Connor, D Troy Rutkowski and D Nick Tuzzolino…G Dan Ellis picked up the 100th win of his AHL career…The Bears improved to 4-1 in overtime this season, and won for the fifth time when trailing after two periods.