AHL Hershey Bears

Bears Grab Point In Home Opener Weekend

October 22, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The HERSHEY BEARS Hockey Club had a rollercoaster weekend, beginning with a marathon 8-7 setback against the Rochester Americans in the club's 75th home opener on Saturday. After Jeff Taffe scored his first goal with the Chocolate and White and after Rochester tied it up, the BEARS went on to grab two three-goal leads on strikes from Garrett Mitchell, Tomas Kundratek and Jon DiSalvatore. Ryan Stoa's first of two goals on the night pushed the BEARS ahead by a 5-2 count. But the Amerks offense, led by Marcus Foligno's last three points of four in the game, helped counter third-period goals from Stoa and Mattias Sjogren to push the visitors to victory. The BEARS then hosted Binghamton on Sunday, and goaltenders Robin Lehner and Philipp Grubauer, who made his AHL debut, locked up in a great battle of netminding. Each backstop made 24 saves on the night, but the 26th shot from Binghamton came with just 6.5 seconds left in overtime just prior to the net being dislodged. Video replay was summoned for the first time in BEARS history and overruled the referee's initial decision of no goal. Taffe scored the BEARS' lone tally on a hard slap shot in the second period.

The BEARS travel to Hartford, CT to take on the Connecticut Whale on Friday, before returning home to host the Albany Devils on Saturday and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday. Sunday's feature is a Huggins Printing Team Photo Giveaway to the first 5,000 fans, and all players will be available for autographs post-game.

BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

HISTORY MADE ON HISTORIC NIGHT In the BEARS' previous 74 seasons, there has never been a higher total of combined goals (8-7, Saturday vs. Rochester) in a HERSHEY home opener. The Saturday meeting was also the fourth time in GIANT Center history that the BEARS and Amerks met on opening night.

NOT SHORT-STAFFED: D Garrett Stafford has climbed into a tie for second place among AHL defensemen, having chipped in five assists in his past two games. Stafford shows (1-5-6) and a plus-1 rating.

TAFFE STRAFES: C Jeff Taffe has not disappointed since arriving in HERSHEY, as the veteran forward has tallied in all four of the BEARS games to date. He leads the squad with (2-5-7) and a plus-2 rating, and is tied for third in overall AHL scoring. His four-game point streak is tied for the second-longest in the AHL in the young season.

SAL'S PALS: The BEARS line of Barry Almeida, Jeff Taffe and Jon DiSalvatore has combined for 14 points (5-9-14) and a plus-5 rating in their time as linemates.

GRUBAUER POWER: G Philipp Grubauer appeared in his first career AHL game against Binghamton on Sunday, and made 24 saves - including four on a Senators two-man power play advantage - to earn third-star honors. Grubauer slid into 10th place overall among goaltenders with a 1.85 goals-against average.

MORE POWER: The BEARS, who led the AHL in power-play efficiency for most of the 2011-12 season, are back near the top once again with five power play goals on 20 opportunities (25.0%), ranking eighth overall.

"O" FROM THE "D": Of the BEARS' nine active defensemen, five (Julien Brouillette, Tomas Kundratek, Dmitry Orlov, Cameron Schilling and Garrett Stafford) have contributed a total of 15 points (4-11-15) in the BEARS' four games to date.

TIGHT QUARTERS (PERIODS): All four BEARS games in the young season have been decided by one goal.

HERSHEY BEARS SCORING LEADERS

PLAYER GP G A PTS STAT LEADER

Jeff Taffe 4 2 5 7 Goals 4 TIED 2

Jon DiSalvatore 4 2 4 6 Assists J. Taffe, G. Stafford 5

Garrett Stafford 4 1 5 6 Points J. Taffe 7

Garrett Mitchell 4 2 1 3 +/- 4 TIED +2

Tomas Kundratek 4 1 2 3 PP Goals J. DiSalvatore 2

SH Goals G. Mitchell 1

Wins D. Sabourin 1

GAA P. Grubauer 1.85

SV % P. Grubauer .923

AHL EAST DIVISION

TEAM GP W L OTL SOL PTS

Syracuse Crunch 5 4 0 0 1 9

Norfolk Admirals 4 4 0 0 0 8

Binghamton Senators 5 3 1 1 0 7

HERSHEY BEARS 4 1 2 1 0 3

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 4 0 4 0 0 0

Check out the Hershey Bears Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from October 22, 2012


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