Boyd Scores Four Goals as Hershey Beats Laval, 6-3
February 16, 2018
Travis Boyd scored four goals to lead the Hershey Bears to a 6-3 win over the Laval Rocket on Friday night at Place Bell. In the first ever meeting between the two teams, Hershey's Vitek Vanecek stopped 17 of 20 shots en route to the Bears first win away from Giant Center in 2018.The Chocolate and White opened the scoring by posting their seventh shorthanded goal of the season. Following a Zach Sill slashing minor, Jonas Siegenthaler dove to send a head-man pass up ice to Liam O'Brien. Behind the defense, O'Brien walked in all alone and danced past Charlie Lindgren to make it 1-0 Hershey at 12:16. The goal was O'Brien's 10th of the season, tying his career high.
Special teams continued to be a factor in the opening frame, as Hershey capitalized on their first power play chance. David Broll was whistled for a slashing infraction at 19:21, putting the Bears on the man-advantage. Connor Hobbs fed Boyd from the right wing, and the forward snapped a shot past Lindgren's glove hand at 19:44.
Into the second stanza, Laval cut the Bears' lead in half at 8:21. Noah Juulsen fired a puck from the right-point towards the net, and Adam Cracknell deflected it past Vanecek from the side of the cage. Only 1:21 later, the Bears answered to regain a two-goal lead. At 9:42, Laval turned the puck over in their defensive zone leading directly to an offensive attack. Joe Whitney found Boyd at the backdoor, and he waited out Lindgren to make it 3-1.
Before both teams broke for second intermission, the Rocket would pull within one, once again. At 16:59, Antoine Waked slipped behind the Bears' defense and beat Vanecek low to the ice to make it 3-2. After 40 minutes, the Bears possessed a one-goal lead, and trailed in shots 14-13.
A field goal followed in the third period, including two more goals for Boyd, as Hershey cruised to a 6-3 victory. At 8:26, Boyd completed the hat-trick the put his club up 4-2. With the puck along the left-wing, Boyd showed patience and persistence as he walked into the slot, and beat Lindgren for the hat-trick.
At 15:39, Boyd's memorable game continued with his fourth goal of the game. Boyd became the first Bear since Paul Carey last March against the Hartford Wolf Pack to score four times in a single game. After his initial shot, Boyd drove the net and buried his own rebound to open the score to 5-2.
O'Brien added a shorthanded, empty net goal to make it 6-2 at 18:32, and Luc-Olivier Blain scored a meaningless goal at 18:58 to round out the 6-3 final.
The Bears finished the night outshooting Laval, 27-20. Hershey also finished the night 1-for-4 on the power play, in addition to a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. With the win, Hershey's record improves to 20-25-3-4, while Laval slides to 19-25-6-2.
The Hershey Bears continue their Canadian road trip tomorrow night in Belleville against the Senators. Voice of the Bears Zack Fisch has the call. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m.
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