BEARS BLANK ADMIRALS TO EXTEND POINT STREAK

February 1, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Chandler Stephenson scored with 8:46 left in regulation, breaking a scoreless deadlock and helping Hershey Bears goaltender Philipp Grubauer’s 26 saves stand up in a 2-0 victory over the Norfolk Admirals on Sunday afternoon, in front of a sellout crowd of 10,890 fans at GIANT Center.

For the second consecutive day, the first period would end scoreless.  Each team’s goaltender made two big saves to keep their opponents off of the scoreboard, including a Jason LaBarbera arm save on Stan Galiev and Grubauer’s denial of a wide-open Emerson Etem.

The second frame was not much different, although Hershey would hold Norfolk to only three shots on goal.  LaBarbera made the best save of this period, reaching up to deny a Chris Conner backhand shot while prone on the ice.

Stephenson’s goal was obviously the difference but it only came on a strong play by Casey Wellman.  The centerman put a hit on a Norfolk defenseman, knocking the puck loose.  He immediately fired a pass into the slot where Stephenson collected it and snapped it past LaBarbera for his fifth goal of the season.

The Admirals would pull LaBarbera for a sixth attacker late, and Kris Newbury would find the vacated net for his team-leading 15th goal of the season at 18:58.

The Bears held on from there, allowing Grubauer to improve to 16-9-4 on the year.  LaBarbera made 31 saves in a third-star effort but fell to 5-7-3.

Hershey extended its point streak to seven games (6-0-0-1) and improved to 25-13-4-2 to pull within four points of second place in the Eastern Conference.

The Bears make their first visit to New York’s Southern Tier on Friday, February 6, for a 7:05 PM matchup with the Binghamton Senators.  Fans may listen to the game on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460 and via iHeart Radio (1460 AM) beginning at 6:25 PM.

The team returns home on Saturday, February 7 to host the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at 7:00 PM.  All fans in attendance will receive candy upon exit courtesy of the Hershey Company as the Bears celebrate Chocolate-Covered February.  Individual tickets for this and all remaining home games are available at the GIANT Center box office, online at TicketMaster.com or by calling 717-508-BEAR.


NOTES: The Bears scratched D Michal Cajkovsky, D Tomas Kundratek, RW Garrett Mitchell, C Jim O’Brien, D Nate Schmidt and D Patrick Wey… The Admirals scratched RW Matt Bailey, D Brendan Bell, D Marc Cantin, C Antoine Laganiere, RW Stefan Noesen and LW Brad Winchester… The Bears finished the night 0-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill… Three stars: 3-LaBarbera, 2-Grubauer, 1-Stephenson...The Bears now have a league-leading 17 wins on home ice (17-5-2-1)…Hershey scored the game’s first goal for the 29th time this season, also leading the AHL, and is 19-7-3-0 when scoring first…The Admirals took their final regular-season trip to Hershey as the franchise is expected to move west in 2015-2016.