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AHL Hershey Bears

Bears Fight Back But Fall in Shootout

November 1, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


HERSHEY, Pa. -Three unanswered goals by the Hershey Bears wiped out a 4-1 deficit and forcedextra time, but a huge penalty kill in overtime and three goals in 10 rounds ofa shootout propelled the Lehigh Valley Phantoms to a 5-4 victory on Sundayevening at GIANT Center.

Lehigh Valley grabbed thegame's first goal on the visitors' first power play of the night, as DanickMartel fired a pass from Samuel Morin past the reach of Dan Ellis at 9:59.

Ellis played outstanding in theopening period, stopping 16 other shots to keep the Bears in the game. Hershey would eventually battle for theequalizer and get it at 1:40 of the middle period. Christian Djoos snuck through the slot and headed for thenet to slap a pass from Travis Boyd up and over Phantoms netminder JasonLaBarbera.

Lehigh Valley then rattled offthree consecutive goals to open up the contest. Petr Straka would get behind the Bears' defense and was ableto backhand a shot that handcuffed Ellis at 4:11.

Aaron Palushaj then found ablocked shot in front of the Hershey defense, and hurried a shot past Ellis at5:39.

Straka then scored ashorthanded goal at 8:08, giving the Phantoms what appeared to be a comfortablelead. But the Bears scored alate-period power play goal when Sean Collins buried a cross-crease feed fromChris Bourque at 19:52, giving the Bears momentum heading into the thirdperiod.

At 9:18, Bourque would one-timea feed from Djoos low along the ice and past LaBarbera, cutting the deficit to4-3.

The tying goal came from theBears' grinding line of Zach Sill, Liam O'Brien and Garrett Mitchell. After a relentless forecheck, Mitchellfound Sill at the left hash marks. Sill lifted a shot over LaBarbera's blocker, and the puck wedged betweenthe left post and netting for his first Hershey goal with 2:07 left inregulation.

A hooking call on LehighValley's Tim Brent in overtime would give the Bears a monumental chance to winthe game, but the Phantoms' penalty kill survived.

The Bears saved themselves inround three of the shootout as Riley Barber answered the opening tally fromTaylor Leier, and got into the drivers' seat when Collins scored in roundeight. But Brandon Alderson wouldmatch that goal, and Kevin Sundher beat Ellis in the last half of the tenthround to send the Phantoms off the bench in celebration.

Ellis made 36 saves on 40 shotsbut fell to 2-2-1 on the season. LaBarbera won his first game of the year, improving to 1-3-0. Hershey finished 2-for-6 on the powerplay and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.

The Bears travel to Connecticutto take on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Wednesday, November 4. Face-off is at a special 11:00 AM starttime. Fans may listen to thebroadcast beginning at 10:20 on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM100.1, WTKT-AM 1460, via the iHeartRadio app (Fox Sports 1460) and online atFoxSports1460.com or via AHL Live.

The Bears return home onSaturday, November 7 to battle the St. John's IceCaps. Individual tickets for this and allBears home games are on sale at the GIANT Center box office, by calling717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES: The Bears scratched D Madison Bowey, RWCaleb Herbert and LW Jakub Vrana... The Phantoms scratched... RW Cole Bardreau, CNick Cousins, D Robert Hagg, RW Derek Mathers, RW Colin McDonald, RW MichaelParks, D Logan Pyett and RW Evan Rankin...Phantoms LW Chris Conner was recalledearlier in the day...Dan Ellis appeared in his 200th AHL game...ChristianDjoos' second-period goal was his first in the AHL...The Bears are 15-0-2-1against Lehigh Valley at GIANT Center in their past 18 games...The Bears battledfor a point when trailing after both the first and second periods for thesecond consecutive night.

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