AHL Hershey Bears

Bears Sent to Second Straight Shootout Setback

November 19, 2011 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


HERSHEY, Pa. - The visiting Albany Devils used three consecutive shootout goals to win a battle of offense on Saturday night at Giant Center, taking a 6-5 victory from the HERSHEY BEARS.

The hosts jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Graham Mink deflected a point shot from Patrick McNeill past Devils netminder Keith Kinkaid on the BEARS' first power play of the night. Jacob Micflikier also assisted, allowing him and Mink to extend their point streaks to five games.

Dmitry Orlov then skated from his own end through neutral ice, and unloaded a slap shot from just inside the blue line that beat Kinkaid to the glove side at 11:08 for a 2-0 lead.

Albany would cut into the hosts' lead, scoring at 15:12. Nathan Perkovich drove the middle of the offensive zone and tipped home a pass from Chad Wiseman past Braden Holtby. The Devils then tied the score when Holtby gave the puck away behind his net and Darcy Zajac deposited the turnover into an empty net with ten seconds left in the period.

Albany went ahead for the first time in the game, scoring on a power play at 10:05 of the second period. Holtby kicked out the original point shot from Matt Taormina, but the rebound bounced right to Eric Gelinas and the defenseman fired the puck home to give the Devils a 3-2 lead.

The BEARS answered back at 12:02, when Chris Bourque found a rebound on his stick in the right circle, and whipped it past Kinkaid before the netminder could recover. The second power play goal of the night for the BEARS was also set up by Keith Aucoin.

Tied 3-3 in the third, Albany went back on top at 5:37, when Steve Bernier deflected a pass from Steve Zalewski into the upper part of the net. Bourque cashed in with his second man-advantage goal of the evening at 7:51, when he got a stick on a shot taken by Micflikier from the right circle.

The see-saw swung Albany's way again at 10:07. Tim Sestito got himself free at the net front and rushed a behind-the-net feed from Vladimir Zharkov past Holtby, giving the Devils a 5-4 lead. BEARS captain Boyd Kane then won a puck battle at the bottom of the left offensive circle and buried his own rebound behind Kinkaid at 13:30, tying the score at 5-5.

Unable to score on an overtime power play, the BEARS headed to the shootout with Micflikier scoring and Holtby denying Wiseman. After Kinkaid robbed Bourque with a glove save, the Devils sent three straight goals past Holtby off the sticks of Mike Sislo, Matt Anderson and Bernier. Kinkaid turned aside shots from Aucoin and Kane to seal the win.

Holtby falls to 4-4-1 on the season with 27 saves. Kinkaid improves to 5-3-0 in stopping 28 of 33 in regulation and overtime, and three of four in the shootout.

HERSHEY finished 3-for-5 on the power play, and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The loss drops the BEARS to 7-4-3-2 on the season.

HERSHEY will return to Giant Center to battle the Providence Bruins on Wednesday, November 23 at 7:00 PM. Individual tickets for this and all regular-season home games are on sale now by calling (717) 508-BEAR, or by visiting ticketmaster.com.

HERSHEY BEARS season ticket plans are also on sale now by calling (717) 508-BEAR, with many different flexible plans still available. Season ticket plans start as low as $160.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 19, 2011


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