Bears Beat Senators 3-1, Win 10th Straight at Home

March 22, 2017

(Hershey, PA- March 22, 2017)-Pheonix Copley stopped 33 shots and Riley Barber had two points Wednesday night to propel the Hershey Bears hockey team to a 10th straight home win, and a sixth straight victory overall. The Bears beat the Binghamton Senators 3-1 in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,569 at Giant Center to move within four points of the top spot in the Atlantic Division. 

Hershey defender Hubert Labrie enjoyed an exceptional first period on both ends of the ice. The defender prevented Binghamton from notching the game's first goal, sweeping the puck off the goal line with the Senators on the power play. Later in the period at 13:55, Labrie opened the scoring for Hershey with his third goal of the season. Barber fed Labrie on the left wing, and the defender snapped a shot over the blocker of Binghamton netminder Matt O’Connor to make it 1-0. Rookie Hampus Gustafsson also assisted, notching his first professional point. 

The Bears added to the lead in the second period as defender Tom Gilbert notched his second goal of the season.  Defender Christian Djoos centered a pass from behind the net and Gilbert’s one-timer from the right wing beat O’Connor to make it 2-0 at 4:49. 

Barber scored with just under 58 seconds left in the middle frame to give Hershey a 3-0 lead. While falling down, the forward cashed in for his 10th goal of the season, tapping a Jakub Vrana feed past a sprawled O’Connor from the top of the crease. 

Copley was strong in goal again for Hershey, stopping double-digit shots in all three periods. The only blemish on his record came on a Jason Akeson goal via a 5-on-3 power play at 14:29 of the third period. 

Hershey outshot the Senators 36-34 on the evening. The Senators went 1-for-7 on the power play while Hershey was 0-for-5. 

Hershey is back in action in St. John’s this weekend to battle the IceCaps. Pregame coverage starts at 2 p.m. ET on both Saturday and Sunday as Hershey makes its final trip to St. John’s. The puck drops at 2:30 p.m. ET both days. The games are available via the Bears Radio Network and AHL Live.