WHALE EDGE BEARS IN FRIDAY NIGHT VICTORY

October 26, 2012

HARTFORD, Conn. – Dmitry Orlov scored his first goal of the season on a power play, but Cam Talbot turned aside 26 other HERSHEY BEARS shots to help the Connecticut Whale earn a 3-1 win on Friday night at XL Center.

The Whale jumped out to a two-goal lead with strikes separated by just two minutes.  Brandon Segal notched his fourth goal of the season when he freed himself in front of Dany Sabourin’s goal crease and tapped a pass from Marek Hrivik into the net at 4:25.

The hosts were then attempting a dump-and-chase play but ended up on an odd-man rush after the puck eluded a BEARS defenseman just inside the visitors’ blue line.  Christian Thomas carried down the right wing and fed the slot for a driving Tommy Grant.  Grant beat Sabourin up high at 6:25 and gave the Whale a 2-0 advantage at the intermission.

The BEARS earned two power play chances in the final minutes of the middle period but ran into an aggressive Connecticut penalty kill, and were unable to cash in.  Talbot made his best save of the game on a point-blank one-timer from former Whale blueliner Tomas Kundratek to keep the BEARS off of the scoreboard.

Orlov finally got the BEARS on the board with 6:35 left to play.  Mattias Sjogren and Kundratek combined to work the puck to the center point, where Orlov unleashed a slap shot that sailed over Talbot’s glove.

The BEARS pulled Sabourin for an extra attacker, but with 1:15 left in regulation, Ryan Bourque chased down a clear from Matt Gilroy, raced in from center ice and hit the empty net to round out the scoring.

Sabourin made 26 saves on 28 shots in falling to 1-2-0 on the season.  Talbot earned his first victory of the season in his first start in goal.

The BEARS finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

The BEARS return home tomorrow, October 27 for a 7:00 PM faceoff against the Albany Devils.  Tickets for this game and all HERSHEY BEARS home games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling (717) 508-BEAR, or online at TicketMaster.com.

http://theahl.com/stats/official-game-report.php?game_id=1009941