Bears Blitz Bridgeport in Strong Start to December
December 5, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release
HERSHEY, Pa. - Stanislav Galiev scored two more goals and added an assist, Chris Conner tallied a goal and two assists and Tim Kennedy registered a team season high four helpers, allowing the Hershey Bears to cruise to a 6-3 victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Friday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,941 fans at GIANT Center.
The Bears would draw first blood and score their first even-strength goal since November 19 just 3:58 into the contest. The red-hot Galiev headed to the net front to chase down a shot from Casey Wellman, and chipped it over a prone David Leggio, extending his goal-scoring streak to four games in the process.
Bridgeport, coming into the game boasting the league's top power play, proved their strength by scoring just 12 seconds into their first chance. Forward Scooter Vaughan, playing defense in the game, set up at the right point to collect a pass from Harry Zolnierczyk. Vaughan stepped into a slapper and the puck flew past the blocker of Philipp Grubauer at 15:29, tying the contest.
The Bears would earn their fourth power play of the game late in the second period, and Galiev would collect a cross-crease feed from Conner. He had a very small target and a sharp angle, but found daylight with a snap shot from below the bottom of the left circle at 18:25.
The Bears' trio of Joel Broda, Garrett Mitchell and Dustin Gazley began the third period with a jump, and helped the Bears open a 3-1 lead. Broda collected a backhand pass from Mitchell, and sent a backhander of his own past Leggio's glove at 2:46.
Just 1:26 later, and after a turnover behind the Bridgeport net, Brown converted for his fifth of the season to expand the lead to 4-1.
Bridgeport head coach and former Bears captain Brent Thompson would use his timeout, and the visitors would respond. The Sound Tigers' power play connected again to cut the deficit to 4-2 when Mike Halmo's slap shot from the right side trickled past Grubauer.
The Bears were about to be down another man, but with Leggio replaced for a sixth attacker on the delayed call, Colin McDonald sent a long-range one-timer past Grubauer's glove at 9:30 to bring Bridgeport within one.
Brown's second of the game with 1:57 left gave the Bears some breathing room, and Conner put the contest away with a power play goal with 12 seconds left in the game.
Grubauer made 24 saves and improved to 9-5-2 with the win, while Leggio stopped 18 of 24 and fell to 3-5-0.
The Bears will visit the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tomorrow, December 6 with face-off from Mohegan Sun Arena set for 7:05 PM. Fans may listen to the pre-game show at 6:25 on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460, WOYK-AM 1350 and the iHeart Radio app for smartphones (1460 AM).
The Bears then host the Penguins on Sunday, December 7 at 5:00 PM on the annual WGAL and Northwest Savings Bank Teddy Bear Toss. All fans are encouraged to bring a stuffed toy to toss onto the ice after the Bears score their first goal.
Individual tickets for this and all remaining home games are available at the GIANT Center box office, online at TicketMaster.com or by calling 717-508-BEAR.
NOTES: The Bears scratched D Michal Cajkovsky, RW Caleb Herbert, D Mike Moore, C Kris Newbury, LW Tim Spencer and D Patrick Wey...The Sound Tigers scratched RW Brett Gallant and D Jesse Graham... D Ryan Pulock was recalled to the NHL's New York Islanders prior to the game...The Bears finished the night 2-for-7 on the power play and 1-for-3 on the penalty kill...RW Stanislav Galiev extended his goal streak to four games, with all games coming at home, the AHL's second-highest home streak this season...Three stars: 3-Kennedy, 2-Brown, 1-Galiev...The six goals were a new season high for Hershey...Bridgeport fell to 1-5-1-1 in its last eight visits to Hershey.
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American Hockey League Stories from December 5, 2014
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