Bears withstand third period pressure, defeat Phantoms

January 15, 2016

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Justin Peters turned aside a barrage of shots from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms – 26 in the third period alone, and 42 overall – helping the Hershey Bears hang on for a 4-3 victory on Friday night at PPL Center.

An entertaining first period ended scoreless, due to solid penalty killing and goaltending.  Each team wiped out one power play chance for the opponent.  The best save of the frame came from Peters, who denied Kevin Goumas with a sliding left-pad stop with 18 seconds left in the stanza.

It was a completely different story in the middle frame, as the teams combined for five goals.  Chris Bourque continued his hot hand by burying his 17th of the season after receiving a kicked pass from Travis Boyd.  Alone at the net front, Bourque hurried a shot along the ice and through the pads of Jason LaBarbera at 1:55.

Hershey then opened up a 2-0 lead when Tyler Lewington pinched in from the right point and deposited the rebound of a Carter Camper shot at 7:28.

But Lehigh Valley would respond, scoring twice in a span of 52 seconds to knot the score.  Nick Cousins was able to redirect a pass from Mark Alt behind Peters at 9:26, and Chris Conner tied the contest by depositing a bouncing puck into the net from the top of the crease at 10:18.

But the Bears would regain the lead, thanks to a great offensive play from Connor Carrick.  The blueliner carried the puck deep into the left corner and backhanded a pass under the outstretched stick of LaBarbera.  Liam O’Brien promptly ripped the puck home at 12:12 for his second of the season.

The third period was an absolute onslaught by the Phantoms, as the hosts turned every shot they could at the Hershey net.  The Bears would deploy the line of Caleb Herbert, Dustin Gazley and Chris Brown with less than six minutes remaining in the period.  The line would register the only shot of the period, and it was the game-winning goal.  Gazley one-timed a feed from Brown into the upper-right corner of the net for a 4-2 lead at 14:23.

With three minutes left in regulation, Colin McDonald finally got a shot to elude Peters as he whirled around in the slot and sent a wrist shot home to make it a 4-3 game.  The Bears would hang on from there, including dodging a penalty against Boyd with 19 seconds left.

Peters’ 42 saves moved his record to 9-6-3 on the season and earned him his first win against Lehigh Valley.  LaBarbera stopped 17 of 21 shots and fell to 4-9-0.  The Bears ended the night 0-for-1 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Hershey returns home to host the Springfield Falcons for a pair of games both tomorrow, January 16 at 7:00 PM and Sunday, January 17 at 5:00 PM.  Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling 717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES:  The Washington Capitals recalled defenseman Ryan Stanton earlier in the day…The Bears also scratched C Scott Gomez, D Joey Leach, C Chandler Stephenson and LW Jakub Vrana…The Phantoms scratched D Matt Lashoff, RW Aaron Palushaj, RW Michael Parks, D Logan Pyett, LW Jay Rosehill, LW Petr Straka and LW Kevin Sundher…Hershey snapped a three-game winless skid against the Phantoms in winning its 20th game of the season (20-13-1-5)…Chris Bourque’s overall point streak is now at seven games (7-4-11), his road point streak has hit eight games (5-4-9) and he has taken over the AHL scoring lead (17-20-37)…Garrett Mitchell extended his point streak to six games (4-4-8) with his assist…Tyler Lewington has recorded all of his points (2-1-3) against Lehigh Valley…The Bears had not allowed 25 or more shots in a period since October 26, 2003 vs. Norfolk (25 in first period, 2-0 win).