BEARS SWEEP WEEK WITH ANOTHER WIN OVER PIRATES

November 21, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Chris Bourque opened the scoring and added an assist, Ryan Stanton notched two helpers and Dan Ellis made 25 saves in backstopping the Hershey Bears to a 4-2 victory over the Portland Pirates on Saturday night, in front of a crowd of 10,029 at GIANT Center.

Bourque started the scoring by getting himself open in the slot, taking a pass from Stanton and chipping a shot into the upper-left corner past netminder Sam Brittain at 8:42.

The Pirates would dig themselves a huge hole when they took back-to-back crosschecking penalties inside the final two minutes of the period.  On the two-man advantage, Bourque would throw a hard pass toward the slot that deflected off of Travis Boyd and past Brittain for a 2-0 lead.

Just 17 seconds later, the second unit would strike when Riley Barber worked a pass to an open Chris Brown in the left circle.  Brown had time to pick the far post with a snap shot for his first goal of the season and a 3-0 lead.

With backup Mike McKenna on in relief of Brittain, Paul Carey scored his sixth of the season to open up a 4-0 advantage at 11:34 of the second.  He headed to the net to deflect a Stanton slap-pass inside the right post.  It would be the only goal of the period, even though Portland had a lengthy five-on-three power play late in the frame.  Ellis made two great saves on the power play, and after the Bears killed it, snagged a shot from Jonathan Racine for a highlight-reel glove save.

Brittain would return in the third, and stopped all eight Hershey shots.  The Pirates, who already hit two crossbars in the game, hit a third when Kyle Rau’s shot got past Ellis at 17:16.  Video replay would show the puck deflecting off of the back bar, effectively snapping Ellis’ shutout bid.

The Pirates would then score on a power play with a six-on-three advantage at 18:13.  Logan Shaw hurried a shot from the left circle that snuck past Ellis short-side, for only the second home-ice power play goal against the Bears.

Ellis won his second consecutive start to improve to 5-3-1.  Brittain took the loss with 21 saves on 24 shots in 37:38 of work, and fell to 1-3-0.  McKenna stopped five of six shots in his one period of action and earned no decision.  Hershey finished 2-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill. 

The Bears will conclude their five-game homestand on Wednesday, November 21 with the first meeting of the season against the Providence Bruins.  Face-off is set for 7:00 PM.  All fans are invited to the ice level for the Sara Lee & Canteen Vending Turkey Shoot after the contest for a chance at winning Thanksgiving food items.  Individual tickets for this and all Bears home games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES: ; The Bears scratched D Christian Djoos, RW Caleb Herbert, LW Liam O’Brien and LW Jakub Vrana…The Pirates scratched RW Derek Army, C Corban Knight and D Michael Matheson…Chris Bourque’s two points pulled him into a tie with Bears Hall of Famer Ralph Keller for 10th place in Hershey all-time scoring (137G, 271A)…Hershey won three consecutive games for the first time this season, all at home…The Bears scored twice on the power play for the first time since November 1 vs. Lehigh Valley…The Bears improved to 5-0-0-0 in two-goal games.