Bulldogs win 3-1

January 4, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hamilton Bulldogs News Release


Hamilton, Ontario - The Hamilton Bulldogs put a stop to two dubious streaks on Friday night with a 3-1 win over the Rockford IceHogs.

The win snapped a three-game American Hockey League losing skid and a Patrick Holland goal at 19:59 of the first period brought an end to a club-record scoreless drought of 200:29 over four games dating to a 6-3 win over the visiting St. John's IceCaps on December 28th.

Gabriel Dumont contributed one goal and one assist and Olivier Fortier also scored as the Bulldogs improved their record to 12-18-1-2 for 27 points. Goaltender Robert Mayer made 35 saves before a crowd of 4,505 at Copps Coliseum.

Ben Smith scored for the IceHogs, who lost a second consecutive game to fall to 17-15-1-1 for 36 points. Goaltender Alec Richards faced 28 shots in his first start since stopping 29 shots in a 4-2 road loss to the Grand Rapids Griffins on December 9th.

The IceHogs opened the scoring at 1:53 of the first period when Smith converted a rebound over a prone Mayer.

Holland finally found the offence the Bulldogs had been looking for when he tipped home a shot from the blue line by Dumont. The goal was Holland's fourth of the season and first in 13 games since he struck in a 3-2 road win over the Hershey Bears on December 8th.

Prior to the IceHogs' visit, the Bulldogs had been shut out for three consecutive games for the first time in club history and hadn't scored since an empty-net goal by Brendon Nash at 19:30 of the third period sealed the win over the IceCaps. The Bulldogs then lost three consecutive road games, 4-0 to the Lake Erie Monsters the following night, 2-0 to the Rochester Americans last Monday and 6-0 to the Toronto Marlies on Wednesday.

The visitors held a 16-11 edge in first-period shots and the Bulldogs tested Richards on a number of occasions, but the goaltender foiled two short breakaway opportunities from Frederic St-Denis and Michael Bournival, snared a Mike Blunden shot from in close and denied Bournival, who had jumped on the rebound of a Dumont shot.

Dumont gave the Bulldogs their first lead in four games on the power play at 17:11 of the second period. With Jimmy Hayes off for tripping Dumont redirected a hard shot from the blue line from St-Denis for his team-leading 10th goal of the season. The goal was the first on the power play in 17 man-advantage opportunities since the Bulldogs scored two goals in five chances against the IceCaps.

The IceHogs outshot the home side 12-11 in the period, but Mayer was sharp, stopping a Brandon Pirri backhander in the 13th minute, foiling Jeremy Morin on a Rockford power play and he snared a shot from Kyle Beach on a two-on-one with Brandon Bollig. Defenceman Adam Clendening hammered a shot during a power play in the 14th minute that caromed off the post to Mayer's left and came to rest on the goal line.

Fortier made it 3-1 at 5:51 of the third period, just 10 seconds after the IceHogs had killed a hooking penalty to Clendening. Philippe Lefebvre's shot bounced off Richards's pad and bounced to Fortier who buried it for his first goal in 11 games since being recalled to the Bulldogs from the Orlando Solar Bears of the ECHL on December 12th. Lefebvre was making his Bulldogs season debut after being assigned to the team by the Montreal Canadiens on December 31st from the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. Steve Quailer earned the second assist.

The IceHogs pressed over the final five minutes to cut the deficit, but Mayer turned away shots from Smith, Nick Leddy and Klas Dahlbeck. Richards went to the bench for a sixth attacker with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, but the visitors could get no closer.

The Bulldogs were without Greg Pateryn, Antoine Corbin, Joonas Nattinen, Aaron Palushaj, Blake Geoffrion and Alexander Avtsin. The IceHogs scratched Joe Lavin, Wade Brookbank, Brett Lebda and Peter LeBlanc.

The Bulldogs host the Lake Erie Monsters at 7 p.m. Saturday.



American Hockey League Stories from January 4, 2013


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