Press Release Details

TONIGHT'S GAME PREVIEW: BEARS at PENGUINS

12/07/2012 - TONIGHT’S GAME NOTES
 
HERSHEY BEARS at WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON PENGUINS
Friday, December 7, 2012 - 7:05 PM
Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza

REFEREE: Terry Koharski (#10)
LINESMEN: Leo Boylan (#97) & Luke Murray (#92)

BEARS vs. PENGUINS:  The HERSHEY BEARS will aim for their longest road winning streak of the season when they visit northeastern Pennsylvania in a battle against the arch-rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  The game will be the fifth out of 12 regular season matchups.  Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is the top AHL developmental affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins. 
 
ALL-TIME:  Tonight’s game will be the 141^st in regular-season history.  The BEARS have an all-time record of 69-60-11 (W – L/OTL – T/SOL) against the Penguins.
 
THE LAST TIME:  After dropping the first three games of the regular season series, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was finally able to defeat HERSHEY back on Thanksgiving Eve at GIANT Center.  The Penguins won in a special teams game, a 4-0 decision also helped by a Jeff Zatkoff shutout – one of his three on the campaign.  Zatkoff didn’t need to do much work, however, as the BEARS were limited to a season-low 15 shots on goal in the setback.  Beau Bennett and Simon Despres struck on the power play for the Penguins, Benn Ferriero converted a shorthanded breakaway, and Warren Peters tallied at even strength for the visitors’ goals.
 
2012-13 SEASON SERIES (3-1-0-0):

Sun. October 28, 2012	W-B/SCRANTON	GIANT Center	3-2 W
Fri. November 9, 2012	@W-B/Scranton	Mohegan Sun Arena	3-1 W
Sat. November 17, 2012	W-B/SCRANTON	GIANT Center	4-1 W
Wed. November 21, 2012	W-B/SCRANTON	GIANT Center	0-4  L
Fri. December 7, 2012	@W-B/Scranton	Mohegan Sun Arena
Wed. December 26, 2012	W-B/SCRANTON	GIANT Center
Thu. December 27, 2012	@W-B/Scranton	Mohegan Sun Arena
Fri. January 11, 2013	@W-B/Scranton	Mohegan Sun Arena
Sun. January 20, 2013	W-B/SCRANTON	HERSHEYPARK Stadium
Sun. February 3, 2013	W-B/SCRANTON	GIANT Center
Fri. March 1, 2013	@W-B/Scranton	Mohegan Sun Arena
Sun. April 7, 2013	@W-B/Scranton	Mohegan Sun Arena

                               
RECENT RECAPS:  Evan Barlow and Ryan Potulny each scored to wipe out a deficit suffered just 10 seconds into the game, en route to a 2-1 victory over the Norfolk Admirals in last night’s Washington AHL Showcase at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.  The Admirals struck immediately following the win of the opening faceoff, when Rod Pelley pulled the puck cleanly to Sami Vatanen.  The defenseman then sent a pass across the neutral zone to Brandon McMillan, whose long wrist shot from above the left circle eluded Braden Holtby over the glove.  The BEARS then began controlling the puck, earning three power plays on which they were unable to convert but on which they were able to pepper Admirals netminder Frederik Andersen.  The BEARS were able to tie the game when Jon DiSalvatore tipped the puck out of a scrum in front of the Norfolk bench to spring Zach Hamill into the Admirals zone.  Hamill’s drop pass found Barlow in the slot, who sent a wrist shot high into the upper-right corner for his first goal with the BEARS.  There would be no scoring in the second period, a frame in which Holtby settled in and stopped all 11 Norfolk shots.  The BEARS took the lead early in the third when Potulny one-timed a pass from Steve Oleksy past Andersen for his first goal of the season.  Jeff Taffe assisted on the goal to earn his 20^th point of the campaign.  Norfolk earned several chances late to tie the game, but Holtby stood tall, including his game-saving block on Peter Holland from in close with 4.4 seconds left on the clock.
 
The Penguins, meanwhile, have been idle since Saturday when they dispatched the St. John’s IceCaps on home ice by a 5-3 score for the team’s fifth consecutive win.  Simon Despres and Warren Peters pushed the Penguins to an early 2-0 lead before Jason Jaffray and Ray Sawada evened the game with each player’s third goal of the season.  Dylan Reese’s power-play goal with 20 seconds left in the middle period would be followed up by an early third period insurance goal by Benn Ferriero.  Ferriero’s goal would prove to be the game-winner, as Spencer Machacek made it a 4-3 game later in the third.  Riley Holzapfel sealed the win with an empty-netter just before the final minute of play.  Zatkoff earned the win in another light night of work, stopping 13 of 16 shots.
 
EAST DIVISION STANDINGS (as of December 6):

POS	TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	PTS	WIN%	GF	GA
1.	Syracuse	20	13	5	1	1	28	.700	74	55
2.	Binghamton	18	12	4	1	1	26	.722	57	44
3.	W-B/Scranton	20	13	7	0	0	26	.650	58	46
4.	HERSHEY	22	10	11	1	0	21	.477	57	63
5.	Norfolk	21	9	12	0	0	18	.429	60	67

POTULNY POTS FIRST:  C Ryan Potulny, who missed one month of the early portion of the season due to injury, found the net for his first goal of the season last night in Washington, D.C.  The goal also ended up as the winning tally.  The newly-named alternate captain has also extended his point streak to five games (1-4-5), the longest for a BEARS player this season.
 
MILESTONE MAN: RW Jon DiSalvatore, who recorded his 500^th AHL point with his goal on November 25 vs. Toronto, hit another milestone when he played in his 700^th career AHL game last night in the Washington AHL Showcase.  DiSalvatore tallied one assist, and now shows (4-3-7) with a plus-5 rating in his last five games.
 
RAISING THE BAR:  LW Evan Barlow struck for his first goal with the Chocolate and White last night against Norfolk.  Since being signed to a professional tryout on November 25, Barlow has three points (1-2-3) and an even plus-minus rating.
 
TWENTY FOR TAFFE:  C Jeff Taffe’s assist on last night’s game-winning goal was his team-leading 20^th point of the season.  Taffe has a total of six goals and 14 assists in his first 22 games with HERSHEY, and of his 20 points, seven (one goal, six assists) have come in his last five games.
 
HOLTBY HOLDS THE FORT:  G Braden Holtby stopped the final 26 shots he faced to earn his eighth win of the season last night in Washington, D.C.  The win was also the 69^th of his professional career, putting him in sole possession of eighth place on HERSHEY’s all-time goaltender wins list.
 
COUNTDOWN FOR KANE:  Captain Boyd Kane appeared in his 313^th game with HERSHEY last night.  Kane now ranks in 38^th place on the BEARS’ all-time games played list, and is two games behind Brian Dobbin (315) for 37^th place.  He also needs just 14 more games to reach 900 in his AHL career.
 
P.S.: PENALTY SHOTS:  Penguins goaltender Brad Thiessen is the only goaltender in the AHL to have faced two penalty shots to date this season.  He stopped his first opponent in October 20, but gave up a shorthanded penalty shot tally to the BEARS Garrett Mitchell on November 17.
 
BEARS vs. PENGUINS – TEAM LEADERS:

	HERSHEY	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Games Played	SIX TIED (22)	EIGHT TIED (20)
Goals	Zach Hamill (7)	Eric Tangradi (9)
Assists	Jeff Taffe (14)	Benn Ferriero (12)
Points	Jeff Taffe (20)	Beau Bennett (16)
+/-	Zach Hamill (+7)	Robert Bortuzzo (+6)
PP Goals	Tomas Kundratek, Jeff Taffe (3)	Eric Tangradi (5)
SH Goals	Garrett Mitchell (2)	Benn Ferriero (1)
GW Goals	Zach Hamill, Cameron Schilling (2)	Paul Thompson (3)
PIMs	Steve Oleksy (77)	Bobby Farnham (51)
Wins	Braden Holtby (8)	Jeff Zatkoff (10)
GAA	Braden Holtby (2.59)	Jeff Zatkoff (1.81)
Save %	Braden Holtby (.920)	Jeff Zatkoff (.930)

 
BEARS vs. PENGUINS – SPECIAL TEAMS:

	HERSHEY	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Power Play	15-for-111 (13.5%) – 24th in AHL	19-for-108 (17.6%) – 12th in AHL
Penalty Kill	79-for-95 (83.2%) – 17th in AHL	91-for-102 (89.2%) – 2nd in AHL

 
BEARS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:             
None.
 
PENGUINS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:

12/1/12	ADD	C	Dominik Uher	Reassigned by Pittsburgh (NHL) from Wheeling (ECHL)
12/1/12	ADD	RW	Keven Veilleux	Reassigned by Pittsburgh (NHL) from Wheeling (ECHL)
11/30/12	DEL	C	Dominik Uher	Reassigned by Pittsburgh (NHL) to Wheeling (ECHL)
11/30/12	DEL	RW	Keven Veilleux	Reassigned by Pittsburgh (NHL) to Wheeling (ECHL)

 
BEARS AMONG THE AHL:                                                             
C Jeff Taffe:  T-12^th – scoring (6-14-20).
RW Garrett Mitchell:T,1^st – SH goals (2).
D Garrett Stafford:  T,5^th (D) – assists (13); T,4^th (D) – PP assists (7); T,11^th (D) – scoring (1-13-14).
D Tomas Kundratek:  T,4^th (D) – PP goals (3); T,4^th (D) – PP points (3-6-9); T,5^th (D) – goals (6); T,18^th (D) – scoring (6-7-13).
D Patrick McNeill:  T, 1^st (D) – shooting percentage (2/10 = 20.0%).
 
PENGUINS AMONG THE AHL:
LW Eric Tangradi:  T,4^th – PP goals (5);
RW Benn Ferriero:  5^th – shots on goal (72).
C Riley Holzapfel:  4^th – shooting percentage (6/21 = 28.6%).
G Jeff Zatkoff:  2^nd – wins (10); T,2^nd – shutouts (3); 4^th – GAA (1.81); T,5^th – save percentage (.930).

TONIGHT’S BROADCAST INFORMATION: BEARS Radio Network: WTKT-1460 AM, WQIC-100.1 FM, WRBT-94.9 FM HD-2 Internet Audio:  http://www.1460theticket.com, iHeartRadio || Internet Video:  http://www.ahllive.com Twitter: Scott Stuccio (Voice of the BEARS): @ScottStuccio || Randy ‘Rock’ Johnson (color): @RRJ_Hockey ||Official HERSHEY BEARS Twitter: @TheHersheyBears ENJOY THE GAME!

G Brad Thiessen:  T,1^st – shootout percentage (9/9=100%); T,1^st – shootout wins (2).LW Beau Bennett:  T,5^th (R) – scoring (5-11-16); T,5^th (R) – PP assists (6).

TONIGHT’S BROADCAST INFORMATION: BEARS Radio Network: WTKT-1460 AM, WQIC-100.1 FM, WRBT-94.9 FM HD-2 Internet Audio:  http://www.1460theticket.com, iHeartRadio || Internet Video:  http://www.ahllive.com Facebook: facebook.com/TheHersheyBears; Twitter: Scott Stuccio (Voice of the BEARS): @ScottStuccio || Official HERSHEY BEARS Twitter: @TheHersheyBears

LW Bobby Farnham:  1^st (R) – PIM (51); 1^st (R) – minor penalties (13); T,1^st (R) – major penalties (5)