Hershey Weekly
November 23, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release
The Hershey Bears Hockey Club won both of its home games this past weekend - both against the Portland Pirates - to post the team's first three-game winning streak of the season.
In a rare Friday night contest at GIANT Center, Connor Carrick capped off a back-and-forth third period with a shorthanded goal in the final seconds of regulation to help the Bears stun the Pirates by a score of 3-2. Logan Shaw would start things out at 12:36 of the first, slipping a shot past Justin Peters for his third goal against the Bears this season. Chris Bourque answered that tally at 8:06 of the second, banking a low shot past Mike McKenna for a power-play goal. Dustin Gazley gave Hershey its first lead of the night early in the third period, but 31 seconds later, Dylan Olsen took a shot that deflected off a body and past Peters to knot the score. The 2-2 deadlock held until late in the frame, when the Pirates were handed a glorious chance to win the game with a four-minute power play. But Garrett Mitchell made a great play to create plenty of time and space in the Pirates' zone before feeding Carrick for a long point shot that got past McKenna with 14.8 seconds left on the clock.
Determined to close the season series on a winning note, the Bears came out flying in the Saturday rematch and struck three times in the opening period en route to a 4-2 win. Bourque chipped home his second goal of the weekend 8:42 into the game off of a nice feed from Ryan Stanton to open the scoring. The Pirates then took back-to-back minor penalties which gave the Bears more than a minute's worth of a two-man advantage. A lengthy struggle on the power play became a distant memory as the Bears cashed in on both chances, just 17 seconds apart. Bourque's shot into traffic glanced off of Travis Boyd and past goaltender Sam Brittain at 17:44 for a 2-0 lead, and with the second power play unit deployed, Riley Barber worked a pass to Chris Brown who snapped a shot past Brittain at 18:01. With McKenna on in relief of Brittain in the middle frame, the Bears got one more when a Stanton slap-pass was perfectly redirected into the net by Paul Carey. Kyle Rau would end the shutout bid of Bears backstop Dan Ellis with 2:44 left in regulation, and the Pirates added another at 18:13 on a six-on-three situation. That was the only pressure that the Bears had to withstand. The club skated off with their third consecutive victory and a split of the four-game season series with the Pirates. Fans were then treated to a team autograph session after the game.
HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES
BOURQUE & THE BEARS BEST: Chris Bourque posted a goal and an assist over the weekend to push his scoring total with the Bears to 408 points (137 goals, 271 assists). This ties him with Bears Hall of Famer Ralph Keller for 10th place in Hershey all-time scoring. He is now 16 points behind Frank Mario for ninth place. Bourque has posted the 408 points in 409 career games with the Bears, a total which ranks 24th in Hershey history - four games behind Bears and AHL Hall of Famer Mitch Lamoureux.
A CARRICK-TER WIN: Defenseman Connor Carrick's goal on Friday night was the first shorthanded goal of his professional career, and second career AHL game-winner. Last year's leader among Bears defensemen in scoring is tied with Aaron Ness for this year's blueliner scoring lead (3-4-7).
HELPFULLNESS: Defenseman Aaron Ness chipped in three assists in the two-game weekend, extending his point streak to three games in the process. Ness has four assists in that string.
STEADY STANTON: Defenseman Ryan Stanton returned from a one-game injury absence to post three assists and a plus-two rating in the Bears' two weekend wins. He was named the third star in Saturday's victory.
ELLIS CLOSING IN: Goaltender Dan Ellis has won his last two starts to move four wins away from 100 in his AHL career. Ellis is 96-89-8 with 13 shutouts in his 205-game tenure.
BEARS BULLETS: The Bears have allowed just two power play goals at home this season for a 94.6 penalty kill success rate, second-best in the AHL...Hershey scored two power play goals on Saturday night, the first time that the Bears had a multiple power-play-goal game since November 1 vs. Lehigh Valley...Chris Bourque's power play goal on Friday snapped a string of 32 consecutive team power plays without a goal...The Bears improved to 8-2- 0-0 when outshooting their opponent and have the second-highest win total in the AHL when doing so...The Bears are a league-best 5-0-0-0 in games decided by two goals...Hershey's last string of three regulation wins was between last February 27 and March 1...Chris Brown became the seventh different Bears player to notch a game-winning goal this season with his tally on Saturday...The Bears are once again pacing the AHL in attendance with an average of 9,091 fans through nine home games.
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