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Hershey Bears

Hershey Weekly

March 23, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club finished the second leg of its season- long six-game road trip with wins in all three games, positioning itself for a key pair of home matchups this week with the Eastern Conference lead as a potential prize.

On Wednesday, the Bears took on the Worcester Sharks in the last-ever regular season visit to DCU Center. The high-shooting Sharks launched a season-high 46 shots on the Hershey goal, but Philipp Grubauer was up to the task. The netminder denied 44 of the 46 to help the Bears claim a 3-2 victory. Tim Kennedy started off his visit against two of his former teams by scoring first, a wrist shot that beat Troy Grosenick 6:31 into the game. Grubauer stopped 31 of his 44 over the first two periods to allow the Bears to hold the 1-0 lead into the third. Sharks captain Bryan Lerg scored just 17 seconds into the final frame to knot the score. After the Bears killed their second two-man disadvantage of the night, Cameron Schilling followed up his own rebound to put the Bears in front 2-1. Jim O'Brien would tally into the empty net for a key insurance goal, as Lerg scored another with 16 seconds left to play.

It was then off to Portland for a pair of games against a Pirates club that entered Friday with wins in seven straight games and points in eight in a row. Kennedy again started things off for Hershey at 10:34, but Pirates captain Alexandre Bolduc would answer at 15:09 with a shorthanded tally. Kris Newbury's deflection of a Mike Moore shot got past Mike McKenna for the only goal of the second, putting Hershey ahead 2-1. Another Bolduc tally tied the contest and set up overtime, in which Andre Burakovsky used a screen to fire home his first AHL goal at 3:26 of the extra session to give his club a 3-2 win and give Grubauer, who made 25 saves, his 25th victory of the campaign.

In the Saturday rematch, Portland would strike first, finally getting a shot to find the net behind Pheonix Copley. Brendan Shinnimin fired a wrist shot for a power-play goal, the only goal on 16 first-period shots. Former Pirate Chris Brown would end a lengthy Bears power-play goal drought to knot the score in the second. Liam O'Brien's backhander at 3:57 of the third would beat McKenna and give Hershey its first lead, but Shinnimin would drive the net and deflect a Copley save into the goal for a 2-2 tie. Burakovsky's second goal in as many nights gave Hershey a lead, and again, the Pirates would counter on former Bears defenseman Patrick McNeill's power play goal. Kennedy, who started the week's scoring, finished it with 1:18 left in overtime to give the Bears a 4-3 win.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

MAGIC NUMBER... For Hershey to clinch a playoff berth: nine points.

BURAKOVSKY BLITZING: LW Andre Burakovsky netted his first AHL goal on Friday for the overtime winner at Portland, and chipped in two more points (1-1- 2) to help the Bears sweep their pair of games in Maine. He has four points (2- 2-4) in seven games with the Chocolate and White.

KENNEDY ROLLING: C Tim Kennedy, known for setting up numerous goals this season, scored once in each game this week to extend his road point streak to eight games (4-5-9), the longest such streak by an active player, and his team-leading point total to 55 (10-45-55). He scored the first goal on Wednesday and Friday and the overtime winner on Saturday to pull into a tie for fifth in overall AHL scoring. Kennedy still ranks second in AHL assists (45) and tied for third in power play assists (18).

PHEONIX RISING: G Pheonix Copley won his fourth consecutive start on Saturday with a new professional-high 42 saves, as he helped the Bears to a 4- 3 overtime win over Portland. Copley remains unbeaten in regulation in all of calendar year 2015 (8-0-2), and since dropping a 2-0 decision to St. John's on November 23, Copley is 10-0-3. He is now 13-3-3 in 21 games with a goals- against average of 2.16 and save percentage of .923.

GRUBAUER GRINDING: G Philipp Grubauer backstopped the Bears to their first two wins of the week, making a season-high 44 saves on Wednesday at Worcester and 25 more on Friday at Portland. Grubauer improved to 25-14-4 on the year and ranks third in the AHL in wins, third in minutes (2552:05), is tied for second with six shutouts and ranks seventh in GAA (2.19).

O'BRIEN REBOUNDING: C Jim O'Brien returned from a seven-game injury absence on Wednesday, and immediately contributed by tallying an empty-net goal that stood as the game-winner. He then added two assists in Saturday's win at Portland. In 22 games with the Bears, O'Brien has 19 points (4-15-19) and a plus-13 rating. Of his four goals, three are game-winners. The Bears are 18-2-1-1 with O'Brien in the lineup.

BEARS BULLETS: The Bears were the league's second team to post 40 wins with their victory on Saturday...Hershey has the fewest home regulation losses (six) in the league as the club returns home for the first time since March 8...Hershey leads the AHL in attendance with 319,168 fans...After Saturday, Hershey is the only team in the league with a .500 record when trailing after the first period (7-7-2-1)...Hershey has won 19 one-goal games this season (19-5- 5-2) after posting three this week...The Bears rank second in penalty killing (87.8%)...The Bears rank third in goals against per game (2.29)...Hershey is the only team in the league with five players that have produced 40 or more points (Kennedy-55, Wellman-47, Conner-47, Newbury-44, Galiev-42).

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