Press Release Details
TONIGHT'S GAME PREVIEW: SENATORS at BEARS
01/05/2013 -
TONIGHT’S GAME NOTES
BINGHAMTON SENATORS at HERSHEY BEARS
Saturday, January 5, 2013 - 7:00 PM
GIANT Center
REFEREES: Ryan Murphy (#5) & Jon McIsaac (#45)
LINESMEN: Ryan Daisy (#90) & Brian Oliver (#80)
BEARS vs. SENATORS: Tonight’s game between the HERSHEY BEARS and the visiting Binghamton Senators will be the third of eight meetings in the regular season. Binghamton is the top AHL developmental affiliate of the Ottawa Senators.
ALL-TIME: By far, the BEARS have the best win-loss ratio against the Senators than against any other AHL team. The BEARS are 48-20-6 (W – L/OTL – T/SOL) all-time.
THE LAST TIMES: The BEARS and Senators haven’t seen each other since the second weekend of the regular season. The road team was victorious in both cases as the BEARS skated to a 3-2 decision at Binghamton on October 19, and the Senators claimed a 2-1 overtime decision in HERSHEY on October 21. In the first meeting between the teams, all of the game’s offense was provided by defensemen. The BEARS scored once in each period to open up a 3-0 advantage, with Julien Brouillette providing the first goal for the Chocolate and White. Garrett Stafford struck in the second period on a power play, and Cameron Schilling unloaded a slap shot off of a Ryan Potulny faceoff win that got by Senators goaltender Robin Lehner. Lehner’s counterpart Dany Sabourin finished the night with a BEARS season-high 42 saves, only allowing third-period special teams goals from Andre Benoit (power play) and Tyler Eckford (shorthanded). Video replay was the BEARS’ enemy in the teams’ weekend rematch in Chocolatetown on October 21, as it was determined that the goal frame was knocked off its moorings after a bank-shot from Senators forward Hugh Jessiman crossed the plane. The goal gave Binghamton a 2-1 win with just 6.5 seconds left in the overtime of a superb goaltending battle between HERSHEY’s Philipp Grubauer and Lehner. Grubauer, making his AHL debut, made save after save on a Senators two-man advantage late in the opening period to keep the game scoreless. Benoit and Jeff Taffe traded second-period goals, and Jessiman’s shot from the goal line would count following a long look at replay.
2012-13 SEASON SERIES:
|
Fri. October 19, 2012 |
@Binghamton |
Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena |
3-2 W |
|
Sun. October 21, 2012 |
BINGHAMTON |
GIANT Center |
1-2 OTL |
|
Sat. January 5, 2013 |
BINGHAMTON |
GIANT Center |
|
|
Sat. January 26, 2013 |
@Binghamton |
Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena |
|
|
Sat. February 9, 2013 |
BINGHAMTON |
GIANT Center |
|
|
Fri. February 22, 2013 |
@Binghamton |
Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena |
|
|
Sun. March 10, 2013 |
BINGHAMTON |
GIANT Center |
|
|
Sat. April 20, 2013 |
@Binghamton |
Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena |
|
RECENT RECAPS: A battle between two of the league’s top defense squads was won by the Albany Devils last weekend, as the visitors claimed a 3-2 win over the BEARS in front of 10,896 fans on a wintry Saturday. The BEARS grabbed the game’s first goal when Jon DiSalvatore buried a one-timer fed to him by Garrett Mitchell at the 8:06 mark of the opening period. Tim Sestito deflected Eric Gelinas’ shot at 12:18 of the second to tie the game, and the Devils then snagged their first lead of the game when Bobby Butler walked out of the corner to beat Braden Holtby high under the crossbar early in the third. Zach Hamill struck just 45 seconds later to tie the game, but Harri Pesonen managed to bury the second rebound of a shot from Jacob Josefson to give the Devils a 3-2 lead which they never gave up. Goaltender Keith Kinkaid was under fire in the final few minutes of regulation, but stopped the remainder of the shots he faced following Hamill’s goal to preserve the win.
The Senators have played two games since the BEARS last took to the ice, most recently last night against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Penguins entered the game with just one win in their last 10 games, and got off to a good start by scoring the game’s first goal against tough Senators netminder Robin Lehner. Beau Bennett was able to beat Lehner with a snap shot over the glove 8:21 into the contest, but just over eight minutes later, the Senators evened the score on Derek Grant’s 11
th tally of the season. Penalties began to add up in the middle frame, and gave the Sens a two-man advantage on which Mike Hoffman capitalized at 11:19 of the second. Both team’s penalty killing units were forced to the test often once again in the third, but during one time frame of full-strength hockey, Hugh Jessiman took a pass from Corey Cowick and ripped a shot by Zatkoff for the insurance marker. Despite being outshot 44-15 in the game, the Senators claimed their league-leading 12
th win on home ice and 20
th overall. Binghamton also killed off all nine Penguins power plays.
EAST DIVISION STANDINGS (as of January 5):
|
POS |
TEAM |
GP |
W |
L |
OTL |
SOL |
PTS |
WIN% |
GF |
GA |
|
1. |
Syracuse |
33 |
21 |
7 |
2 |
3 |
47 |
.712 |
118 |
88 |
|
2. |
Binghamton |
30 |
20 |
7 |
1 |
2 |
43 |
.717 |
99 |
74 |
|
3. |
HERSHEY |
32 |
16 |
14 |
1 |
1 |
34 |
.531 |
85 |
80 |
|
4. |
W-B/Scranton |
32 |
14 |
15 |
2 |
1 |
31 |
.484 |
80 |
88 |
|
5. |
Norfolk |
31 |
14 |
16 |
1 |
0 |
29 |
.468 |
79 |
93 |
HOLTBY TOPS IN DECEMBER: On Tuesday, the American Hockey League recognized Braden Holtby as the CCM/AHL Goaltender of the Month for December. Holtby went 5-4-1 during the month, but posted three shutouts on consecutive Wednesday nights, a goals-against average of 1.69 and save percentage of .943. Holtby has 74 career wins in a HERSHEY sweater, ranking seventh all-time. His 14 career shutouts rank fifth in BEARS history. Holtby ranks third in the AHL in save percentage (.932), is tied for second in the AHL with four shutouts, and ranks sixth with a 2.15 goals-against average.
CENTURY MARK FOR MITCHELL: RW Garrett Mitchell closed out a solid week, earning an assist in his 100
th game played with HERSHEY on Saturday against Albany. Mitchell tallied points in all three games last week (2-2-4).
KANE’S COUNTDOWNS: LW Boyd Kane is closing in on significant milestones. Kane is five games away from joining an elite group of 12 names with more than 900 AHL games to their credit. At 895 games, Kane sits one back of Mark Wotton for 15
th place all-time in the AHL. Additionally, the native of Swift Current, SK needs three more games to reach 1,000 in his ECHL, AHL & NHL professional career, and just two more points to join HERSHEY’s 200-point club (93-105-198).
TOP FIVE TANDEMS: The netminding duo of Holtby and Sabourin, along with the recent defensive gems by the BEARS, have pushed the team into fourth place in the AHL in goals against per game (2.50). The Senators’ pair of goaltenders, Ben Bishop and Robin Lehner, have combined to help Binghamton into third place in the AHL in the same statistic (2.47).
ROAD CREW: The BEARS’ victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton last Thursday gave the team victories in six consecutive road games. It is the longest active streak in the AHL and tied for the second-longest streak this season.
OUTSHOT? NO PROBLEM: The BEARS have recorded 28 of their 34 points in 2012 when outshot by their opponent (13-10-1-1).
CHOCOLATETOWN CLASSIC: The BEARS and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will take to the elements at HERSHEYPARK Stadium in just 15 days in the Capital BlueCross AHL Outdoor Classic. The two team’s alumni will face off on Saturday, January 19 at 3:00 PM, with the Classic puck drop slated for 5:00 PM on January 20. It will be the second consecutive season that the BEARS will play outdoors, and the first time in team history at home.
HEAD TO HEAD: Senators D Andre Benoit leads the head-to-head scoring with three points (2-1-3), while Tyler Eckford (1-1-2) is second on the visitors’ side. The BEARS are led by Garrett Stafford and Jeff Taffe, who show (1-1-2) each. Ryan Potulny has two assists in the series to date.
BEARS vs. SENATORS – TEAM LEADERS:
|
|
HERSHEY |
Binghamton |
|
Games Played |
FOUR TIED (32) |
SEVEN TIED (30) |
|
Goals |
Jon DiSalvatore, Zach Hamill (10) |
Jakob Silfverberg (13) |
|
Assists |
Jeff Taffe (25) |
Andre Benoit, Jakob Silfverberg (13) |
|
Points |
Jeff Taffe (32) |
Jakob Silfverberg (26) |
|
PIMs |
Steve Oleksy (100) |
Mark Borowiecki (96) |
|
Plus/Minus |
Zach Hamill (+11) |
THREE TIED (+12) |
|
Power-Play Goals |
Tomas Kundratek (5) |
Mike Hoffman (6) |
|
Shorthanded Goals |
Garrett Mitchell (2) |
Derek Grant (4) |
|
Game-Winning Goals |
Zach Hamill (3) |
Jakob Silfverberg, Patrick Wiercioch (3) |
|
Wins |
Braden Holtby (12) |
Robin Lehner (13) |
|
Goals-Against Average |
Braden Holtby (2.15) |
Robin Lehner (1.83) |
|
Save Percentage |
Braden Holtby (.932) |
Robin Lehner (.946) |
BEARS vs. SENATORS – SPECIAL TEAMS:
|
|
HERSHEY |
Binghamton |
|
Power Play |
23-for-153 (15.0%) – 20th in AHL |
23-for-144 (16.0%) – 17th in AHL |
|
Penalty Kill |
124-for-148 (83.8%) – 16th in AHL |
130-for-147 (88.4%) – 1st in AHL |
BEARS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
|
1/3/13 |
DEL |
RW |
Matt Pope |
Loaned to Reading (ECHL) |
SENATORS RECENT TRANSACTIONS:
|
12/31/12 |
DEL |
D |
Daniel New |
Loaned to Elmira (ECHL) |
|
12/31/12 |
DEL |
LW |
Darren Kramer |
Reassigned by Ottawa (NHL) to Elmira (ECHL) |
BEARS AMONG THE AHL:
G Braden Holtby: T,2nd – shutouts (4);
3rd – save percentage (.932);
6th – GAA (2.15).
C Jeff Taffe: T,4th – assists (25);
T,5th – PP assists (11);
T,8th – scoring (7-25-32).
D Tomas Kundratek: T,3rd (D) – PP goals (5);
T,3rd (D) – goals (9);
4th (D) – shooting percentage (9/57 = 15.8%);
T,18th (D) – scoring (9-9-18).
D Steve Oleksy: 5th (D) – PIM (100).
SENATORS AMONG THE AHL:
G Robin Lehner: 1st – save percentage (.946);
2nd – GAA (1.83);
T,4th – wins (13).
C Derek Grant: 1st – shorthanded goals (4);
2nd – shorthanded points (4-0-4).
LW Cole Schneider: 3rd (R) – plus/minus (+11).
D Andre Benoit: T,3rd (D) – goals (9);
6th (D) – scoring (9-13-22).
D Tyler Eckford: 5th (D) – shooting percentage (6/42 = 14.3%).
D Mark Borowiecki: T,2nd (D) – major penalties (10).
D Patrick Wiercioch: T,1st (D) – game-winning goals (3).
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