Game Preview: Bears vs. Wolf Pack, 7 PM

LAST TIME OUT:
The Hershey Bears return to action after sweeping a two-game set with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, capped with a 4-2 victory on Sunday at Giant Center. The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead early with goals by Brian Pinho at 4:22 and Garrett Pilon at 16:14. Bridgeport pulled within one next period, after Kieffer Bellows struck on the power play for his 14th goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, Kody Clark answered for the Chocolate and White and recorded his eventual first professional game-winning goal after restoring his club's two-goal advantage. Protecting a 3-2 lead late in the third period, Philippe Maillet hit the vacant net with under a minute remaining to complete a 4-2 win. The Hartford Wolf Pack enter tonight coming off a 3-1 victory over the Utica Comets last Saturday at the XL Center. Hartford received goals from Vinni Lettieri, Vincent LoVerde and Phil Di Giuseppe.

Hartford returns to Giant Center for the first time since Dec. 1, when Hershey won their first of an eventual nine consecutive games. The Bears celebrated its annual CommunityAid & abc27 Teddy Bear Toss Night and skated away with a dramatic, 4-3 overtime win. Brett Leason completed a three-point night and scored his first professional goal at 2:21 of sudden-death overtime to hand Hershey their ninth victory of the season. Entering Dec. 1, the Bears were one game underneath the .500 mark at 8-9-2-3 overall. Entering tonight, Hershey is 11 games above the .500 plateau with an overall record of 21-10-2-3. 

GAME, SET, MATCH: 

The Bears enjoyed a pair of firsts in the two wins over Bridgeport last weekend. On Saturday, Shane Gersich’s goal with just 49.5 seconds to play proved to be the first game-winning tally in the forward’s pro career. Sunday’s contest was followed up by rookie winger Kody Clark’s first professional goal, as the 2018 2nd round draft selection tallied Hershey’s third goal in a 4-2 win. A total of 13 different players have scored game-winning goals for Hershey this year, with Mike Sgarbossa leading the way with four tallies.

Vitek Vanecek ranks 7th in the AHL with a 2.32 goals against average, while Pheonix Copley is 14th, sitting at 2.54. Copley played in his 100th game as a Bear last Saturday, earning his 99th professional victory. He has won four straight starts. Vanecek earned his 3000th career save with Hershey last weekend, winning both of his starts. Vanecek has won eight of his last nine starts, also allowing two or less goals in eight of those contests.

Hershey Bears forward Philippe Maillet enters on a three-game point streak, notching points in all three of Hershey’s games last weekend, and finished with six points (two goals, four assists) in the stretch. He struck for a goal and an assist in Friday’s win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and also had a three-point game (one goal, two assists) in Sunday’s victory over Bridgeport. For his strong play, he was named Hershey’s PSECU Player of the Week. Maillet now has 112 points (43 goals, 69 assists) in his 175-game AHL career with Ontario and Hershey.