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AHL Hershey Bears

Bears Finding Success At Home

February 25, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The HERSHEY BEARS Hockey Club once again picked up three of a possible six points this past weekend, behind a hotter power play and three players that recorded five points each. The team visited the Binghamton Senators on Friday night, and wiped out deficits of 3-1 and 4-2 to pick up a point in a 5-4 shootout loss. Patrick McNeill led the way with three assists, Jeff Taffe scored two goals, and Jon DiSalvatore tallied the game-tying marker. On Saturday at GIANT Center, a sellout crowd of 10,906 was treated to Philipp Grubauer's first AHL shutout, as the German-born goaltender turned aside 40 shots in helping the BEARS to a 3-0 win over the Adirondack Phantoms. McNeill registered the game-winner with a shorthanded goal, while Ryan Potulny and Ryan Stoa each struck on the power play. Taffe and Steve Oleksy notched two assists each. The BEARS then wrapped up the weekend with their final neutral-site game of the season, a Sunday visit to Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall. The Albany Devils came out of the gate fast, and stopped two BEARS comebacks in winning the game by a 6-4 count. Casey Wellman earned second-star honors with two goals and one assist, while Potulny and Stoa scored power-play goals for the second consecutive night. Peter LeBlanc (1-2-3), McNeill (1-4-5), Taffe (2-3-5) and Wellman (2-3-5) all found the score sheet in all three weekend games.

The BEARS closed out the month of February without a regulation loss at home, and will begin March with five of the team's next eight games at GIANT Center.

The club visits the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to begin the month of March on Friday and returns home for weekend matchups, hosting the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday and the Syracuse Crunch on Sunday.

BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

FIVE FOR THREE: Three BEARS players recorded five-point efforts this past weekend: Patrick McNeill (1-4-5), Jeff Taffe (2-3-5) and Casey Wellman (2-3-5).

ALWAYS WILLING TO HELP: C Jeff Taffe's three assists over the weekend keeps him at the top of the AHL's assist leaderboard (35). His five points also push him into seventh place in the AHL scoring race (12-35-47), just five points off of the top spot.

WELL-LIKED: C Casey Wellman's five-point weekend has pushed his average production to a point-per-game since joining the BEARS on January 31 (3-8-11 in 11 games). Wellman now has a five-game point streak entering the new week (3-4-7) and has points in six of his last seven games. Prior to coming to Chocolatetown in exchange for Zach Hamill, Wellman had registered 23 points (7-16-23) in 37 contests with the San Antonio Rampage.

PETER'S PUTTING UP POINTS: Wellman's fellow new teammate C Peter LeBlanc has also contributed offensively. With his assist on Sunday, LeBlanc has strung together points in four consecutive games (1-4-5). He has also recorded points in five of his last six, and has nine points (1-8-9) in 11 games since his arrival from the Rockford IceHogs on January 31 in exchange for Mathieu Beaudoin.

POWER PLAY PRODUCING: The BEARS scored six times on the power play in the team's three weekend games, with an efficiency rate of 33.3% (6-for-18). Scoring at least one power play goal in all but one February road game, the BEARS now rank fifth in road success (20-for-98, 20.4%) and 10th overall (44-for-242, 18.2%).

PK MORE THAN OK: The BEARS allowed just five power play goals during February, a success rate of 89.6%. The team ranks fourth in road penalty killing (86.4%) and ninth overall (85.2%). HERSHEY also scored two shorthanded goals in the last four games of the month.

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