WELLMAN'S THREE POINTS HELP BEARS STOMP SENATORS

February 27, 2015

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. – Casey Wellman scored two goals and added an assist, and Philipp Grubauer made 28 saves, to help the Hershey Bears cruise past the Binghamton Senators by a 5-1 count on Friday night at Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena.
 
Hershey would strike first after a relentless forechecking shift.  Jim O’Brien and Philippe Cornet would circle the puck around the Binghamton zone, before O’Brien found Wellman alone inside the left circle.  Wellman had an open net behind goaltender Scott Greenham in which to drive his 18th of the season at 8:24.
 
Dustin Gazley and Chris Brown would later lead a two-on-one rush into the Senators zone.  Gazley’s pass attempt was partially deflected, but Brown was able to get a shot away.  Greenham made a nice pad stop, but the rebound came right back to Brown for a second blast that he didn’t miss at 12:41 for a 2-0 Hershey advantage.  Brown would also hit the crossbar on another odd-man chance minutes later.
 
The Bears would open the game up in the middle frame, taking a 4-0 lead into the intermission.  Wellman would hold the puck on a four-on-two rush into the Senators’ end, wait until he got to the right circle and fire a shot on net.  The puck trickled under Greenham at 11:32 for Wellman’s second of the night.
 
On the Bears’ second power play of the game, Tomas Kundratek took a cross-ice feed from Wellman and ripped a one-timer inside the left post from the left circle for his fourth goal of the season.
 
Alex Guptill finally got the Senators on the board at 7:56 of the third.  Alone at the net front, he stopped a slap-pass from Buddy Robinson, turned to the forehand and flipped a shot behind Grubauer.
 
Gazley finished off the scoring just under two minutes later, spinning around in the left corner and firing a shot toward the crease.  The puck deflected off of a Senators defenseman and into the net behind Greenham at 9:37.
 
Grubauer improved to 22-10-4 on the season with the win, while Greenham drops to 10-7-2 with 20 saves on 25 shots.
 
The win, Hershey’s third straight, moves the club to 33-14-5-2 (73 points).
 
Hershey returns home to host the Albany Devils tomorrow, February 28 at 7:00 PM.  The first 8,000 fans will receive a rally towel courtesy of Ames Janitorial Services.  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:  LW Liam O’Brien served the second of a three-game suspension from the American Hockey League for his actions in last Saturday night’s game vs. Bridgeport…The Bears scratched LW Dane Byers, D Michal Cajkovsky, C Chandler Stephenson and D Patrick Wey… The Senators scratched LW David Dziurzynski, D Alex Grant and D Michael Sdao… The Bears ended the night 1-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill…RW Casey Wellman now has new personal single-season highs for goals (19) and points (39) with his effort tonight…Hershey improved to 4-1-1-0 against Binghamton with two games remaining in the season series…Hershey scored its league-best 36th first goal, and improves to 25-8-3-0 when scoring first.