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AHL Hershey Bears

Bears Stand Tall Under Pressure, Defeat Phantoms

January 15, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


ALLENTOWN,Pa. - Justin Petersturned aside a barrage of shots from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms - 26 in thethird period alone, and 42 overall - helping the Hershey Bears hang on for a4-3 victory on Friday night at PPL Center.

An entertaining first period endedscoreless, due to solid penalty killing and goaltending. Each team wiped out one power playchance for the opponent. The bestsave of the frame came from Peters, who denied Kevin Goumas with a slidingleft-pad stop with 18 seconds left in the stanza.

It was a completely different story inthe middle frame, as the teams combined for five goals. Chris Bourque continued his hot hand byburying his 17th of the season after receiving a kicked pass fromTravis Boyd. Alone at the netfront, Bourque hurried a shot along the ice and through the pads of JasonLaBarbera at 1:55.

Hershey then opened up a 2-0 lead whenTyler Lewington pinched in from the right point and deposited the rebound of aCarter Camper shot at 7:28.

But Lehigh Valley would respond,scoring twice in a span of 52 seconds to knot the score. Nick Cousins was able to redirect apass from Mark Alt behind Peters at 9:26, and Chris Conner tied the contest bydepositing a bouncing puck into the net from the top of the crease at 10:18.

But the Bears would regain the lead,thanks to a great offensive play from Connor Carrick. The blueliner carried the puck deep into the left corner andbackhanded a pass under the outstretched stick of LaBarbera. Liam O'Brien promptly ripped the puckhome at 12:12 for his second of the season.

The third period was an absoluteonslaught by the Phantoms, as the hosts turned every shot they could at theHershey net. The Bears woulddeploy the line of Caleb Herbert, Dustin Gazley and Chris Brown with less thansix minutes remaining in the period. The line would register the only shot of the period, and it was thegame-winning goal. Gazleyone-timed a feed from Brown into the upper-right corner of the net for a 4-2lead at 14:23.

With three minutes left in regulation,Colin McDonald finally got a shot to elude Peters as he whirled around in theslot and sent a wrist shot home to make it a 4-3 game. The Bears would hang on from there,including dodging a penalty against Boyd with 19 seconds left.

Peters' 42 saves moved his record to9-6-3 on the season and earned him his first win against Lehigh Valley. LaBarbera stopped 17 of 21 shots andfell to 4-9-0. The Bears ended thenight 0-for-1 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

Hershey returns home to host theSpringfield Falcons for a pair of games both tomorrow, January 16 at 7:00 PMand Sunday, January 17 at 5:00 PM. Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling717-508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES: The Washington Capitals recalled defenseman Ryan Stantonearlier in the day...The Bears also scratched C Scott Gomez, D Joey Leach, CChandler Stephenson and LW Jakub Vrana...The Phantoms scratched D Matt Lashoff,RW Aaron Palushaj, RW Michael Parks, D Logan Pyett, LW Jay Rosehill, LW PetrStraka and LW Kevin Sundher...Hershey snapped a three-game winless skid againstthe Phantoms in winning its 20th game of the season(20-13-1-5)...Chris Bourque's overall point streak is now at seven games (7-4-11),his road point streak has hit eight games (5-4-9) and he has taken over the AHLscoring lead (17-20-37)...Garrett Mitchell extended his point streak to six games(4-4-8) with his assist...Tyler Lewington has recorded all of his points (2-1-3)against Lehigh Valley...The Bears had not allowed 25 or more shots in a periodsince October 26, 2003 vs. Norfolk (25 in first period, 2-0 win).

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