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Bears Fall to Sound Tigers in Wild Offensive Battle

Bears Fall to Sound Tigers in Wild Offensive Battle

February 10, 2016

HERSHEY, Pa. – Despite a four-point game from Scott Gomez and three-point nights from Riley Barber and Jakub Vrana, forward Andrew Rowe scored the game-tying goal and the only one in the shootout to help the visiting Bridgeport Sound Tigers to a 7-6 victory on Wednesday night at GIANT Center.

The lead shifted three times in the first period, with the Bears striking first. Barber corralled a bouncing puck in the right circle while skating backwards and tapped it right back for Connor Carrick to slap past starter Christopher Gibson at 2:33.

Bridgeport tied the game when defenseman Kevin Czuczman carried the puck all the way to the bottom of the left circle and lobbed the puck toward the net.  It hit Justin Peters’ blocker and somehow dropped in at 8:29, tying the contest.

Colin Markison was awarded a penalty shot at 10:26 and converted it, putting the visitors in front for the first time in the game.

Hershey answered back, however, when Vrana cleaned up a deflected pass from Travis Boyd at 17:08.

Bracken Kearns led off the second period by scoring just 10 seconds into the frame, taking a Ryan Pulock feed and skating to the open slot before sending a wrist shot into the upper-left corner for a 3-2 Sound Tigers lead.

Hershey jumped right back, scoring three times in a span of 3:46 to take a 5-3 lead.  First, Travis Boyd ripped a cross-ice feed from Scott Gomez behind Gibson at 1:24.

Garrett Mitchell would later poke the puck away from a falling Kyle Burroughs, sending Zach Sill in alone from the left side.  Sill skated toward Gibson and lifted a shot under the crossbar at 3:58, putting the Bears back on top 4-3.

Barber then made it 5-3, swatting at a loose puck while on the ice in a goal-mouth scramble at 5:10.  Parker Milner would come on in relief of Gibson at this point.

The Bears had another power play opportunity after the Barber goal, but it would be Bridgeport to score.  Kearns raced after a loose puck and scored past Peters on a breakaway for a shorthanded goal, and cut the Bears’ lead to 5-4.

Hershey would jump back in front by two at 1:54 of the third period, when Vrana accepted a pass from Gomez, whirled around at the top of the crease and beat Milner five-hole for a 6-4 advantage.

After an apparent near-goal for Hershey, one in which the goal lights came on after a Carter Camper chance, Bridgeport’s Scott Mayfield skated the other way and banked a sharp-angle shot off of a skate and between Peters’ pads at 6:20.  Both plays would be reviewed, with the Bears’ chance negated and Mayfield’s goal standing. 

With time winding down in regulation, Bridgeport would pull Milner for a sixth attacker.  The Sound Tigers then worked the puck around the Bears’ zone while on a delayed penalty, and eventually tied the game as Rowe batted a pass from Taylor Beck at the top of Peters’ crease into the net with 1:37 left to play.

A thrilling overtime followed, highlighted by Peters stopping Beck and Ryan Pulock on a two-on-none rush.  The Bears also had to kill a penalty assessed to Peters in the final 1:52 of the extra period.

Rowe would beat Peters for the only goal of the shootout, while Milner stopped Chris Bourque, Vrana and Gomez in succession for the win.

Peters dropped to 11-6-6 on the season, while Milner made 16 saves on 17 shots in 39:11 of work and was perfect in the shootout to improve to 2-2-0.  Gibson allowed five goals on 18 shots and earned no decision.

Despite the shootout loss, the Bears saw their point streak extend to 13 games (9-0-2-2).

The Bears will take to the road for a pair of games this weekend, starting on Friday, February 12 with their first visit to Rhode Island.  Face-off against the Providence Bruins is at 7:05 PM from the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.  Fans may catch the broadcast beginning at 6:25 PM on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460, via the Caps Mobile App (Caps Radio 24/7), via the iHeartRadio App (Fox Sports 1460 Harrisburg) and online at CapsRadio247.com or FoxSports1460.com.  Fans may watch the game live for a small fee at AHLLive.com.

The Bears return home to host the Bruins on Saturday, February 20 at 7:00 PM.  The first 8,000 fans will receive a rally towel courtesy of Ames Janitorial Services.  Individual tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling (717) 508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

 

NOTES: Tonight’s game was rescheduled from Sunday, January 24 due to the severe blizzard… The Bears have scored five or more goals in six consecutive games…Jakub Vrana, the reigning CCM/AHL Player of the Week, now shows 10 points (6-4-10) in his last four games…Scott Gomez turned in the Bears’ first four-assist game of the campaign…Riley Barber (1-2-3) and Travis Boyd (1-1-2) moved into the top five among AHL rookie scoring with their efforts…Bridgeport’s Andrew Rowe is the captain of Hershey’s ECHL affiliate South Carolina Stingrays…The Bears returned D Joey Leach to the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays earlier in the day…The Bears scratched RW Chris Brown, C Carter Camper, D Christian Djoos, RW Dustin Gazley, RW Caleb Herbert and D Tyler Lewington…The Sound Tigers scratched D Matt Carkner, RW Sebastien Collberg, C Connor Jones, D Loic Leduc and RW Joe Whitney.




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