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Bears Rally Late To Defeat Albany 5-3

February 21, 2010 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ALBANY, NY - Francois Bouchard broke a 3-3 tie midway through the third period and struck again in the final minutes of action to lead Hershey to a 5-3 victory over the Albany River Rats Sunday night at the Giant Center. The Bears set a new American Hockey League record with their 20th straight win on home ice.

Hershey jumped out to a 3-1 lead early in the second period, but River Rats leading scorer Jerome Samson netted two straight goals to knot the game heading into the third. Bouchard took over midway through the final period, drawing a penalty at 9:22 by prompting Drayson Bowman to drop his gloves in search of a scrap, and then converting on a back-door feed just two seconds after the ensuing power play expired. Bouchard added a second marker with 2:07 remaining to ice the game.

Hershey's league-leading power play converted for the first period's only goal at 5:52, when Andrew Gordon redirected Keith Aucoin's centering feed through goalie Justin Peters' legs. The Bears had three more man-advantages in the first frame, but Albany kept its deficit to a single goal.

Chris Borque gave the Bears a 2-0 lead just 15 seconds into middle period with a sharp angle power play blast over Peters' shoulder. Bryan Rodney put the River Rats on the board during a 5-on-3 advantage at 3:50, but the Bears reclaimed their two-goal cushion when Rodney inadvertently swept Oskar Osala's centering feed into his own net.

Samson scored the game's next two goals at 7:51 and 13:01 to chase Hershey goalie Braden Holtby from the game; Zach Boychuk netted assists on Samson's 25th and 26th markers of the season.

His replacement, Jason Bacashihua, stopped all 11 shots faced in the remaining 26:59 to earn the win, as the Bears improved to 43-11-0-2 this season. Holtby allowed three goals on 14 shots faced in 32:52 of action. Peters denied 29-of-34 shots faced and took the loss, as Albany fell to 30-23-3-3 this year. Hershey out-shot Albany 34-25 and went 2-for-8 on the power play, while the River Rats were 1-for-6 on the mand-advantage.

The River Rats travel to Portland on Friday, February 26th for a 7:00 p.m. faceoff against the Atlantic Division's Pirates. River Rats 2009-10 pro-rated season and flexible ticket packages are now on sale at the River Rats executive offices at the Times Union Center, by calling (518) 487-2244 or by logging onto www.albanyriverrats.com.



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