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AHL Hershey Bears

Game Preview: Bears Start March with Final Visit to Lehigh Valley

March 2, 2018 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


(Allentown, PA) - The Hershey Bears start another three in three this evening on the road versus the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The PPL Center has not been kind to Hershey this season as the Bears are 0-5-0-0 in Allentown in 2017-18. The Phantoms are 8-0-1-1 over the past ten games at the PPL Center, and 8-1-0-1 over their last 10 games overall. The Bears are a vastly improved club from the last time they visited the PPL Center in early February, but still sit 11 points out of a playoff spot with 19 games to play.

Hershey Bears (23-26-4-4) at Lehigh Valley Phantoms (35-15-3-4)

Friday, March 2, 2018, 7:05 p.m.

PPL Center

RADIO: WQIC-100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, WOYK 1350-AM

LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports AM-1460 Stream, Caps Radio 24/7

WATCH LIVE: AHLLive.com

LAST TIME OUT: The Bears had a six-game point streak come to an end last Sunday in a 3-2 loss at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hershey struck first as Riley Barber scored his 19th goal of the season just 2:09 into the contest. However, the Penguins responded 51 seconds later as Tom Kostopoulos had the equalizer. Adam Johnson scored in the second period on the power play for the Penguins, but Hershey responded to pull even courtesy of a beautiful passing play finished by Tyler Graovac at 17:08. However, Johnson scored his second goal of the game at 10:06 of the third period to give the Penguins a league-leading 21st win on home ice. The loss ended netminder Pheonix Copley's three-game win streak for Hershey. He stopped 22 shots as the Bears were outshot 25-24 in the game. The Phantoms were last in action on Saturday as they squeaked out a 2-1 win at Binghamton. After falling down 1-0, the Phantoms scored the game's final two goals, as Greg Carey posted his 23rd goal of the season in the second period, and former Bear Chris Conner scored at 1:55 of the third period. John Muse stopped 26 shots for the Phantoms in the win.

LAST TIME VS. LEHIGH VALLEY: The last meeting between these two teams came on Feb. 9 at the PPL Center. The Phantoms upended the Bears, 5-1, handing Hershey its eighth straight loss. After Nic Aube-Kubel scored with under six seconds left in the first period, the Phantoms used the momentum to pour it on in the second period, scoring four goals, including two from Corban Knight. The Phantoms chased netminder Vitek Vanecek who surrendered four goals on just 16 shots. Dustin Gazley had Hershey's lone goal of the evening at 11:14 of the third period, and despite Hershey outshooting the Phantoms 31-25, Lehigh Valley improved to 5-0-0-0 vs. the Bears at PPL Center this season. They have outscored the Bears 27-10 in Allentown this year.

BOURQUE IS BACK: The Bears got good and bad news this week. The bad news was the loss of Travis Boyd, who was recalled to Washington on Tuesday. The good news was the return of Hershey's top player, veteran winger Chris Bourque. The AHL great has rejoined the Bears after skating with Team USA at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics in South Korea. Bourque registered two assists in five games for the stars and stripes, but the Americans failed to medal. Despite missing nine games with Hershey while overseas, Bourque still leads the Bears in assists (33) and points (45). He is tied for ninth in the league in scoring with 45 points, 11 behind Lehigh Valley's Phil Varone who leads the AHL with 56 points in 56 games. The Boston, Mass. native has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) against Lehigh Valley this season.

TIMMY TIME: With Travis Boyd heading to Washington, center Tim McGauley was reassigned to the Bears on Wednesday. McGauley, 22, has collected 36 points (13 goals, 23 assists) and a plus/minus of +9 in 48 games with South Carolina (ECHL) this season. He ranks second on the Stingrays in assists, and is third on the club in goals and points. He has posted 11 multi-point games, and has tallied five points (three goals, two assists) over his past four games. The 6-foot, 188-pound center signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Washington Capitals on Oct. 5, 2015 after participating in the team's rookie tournament and 2015 training camp as an undrafted invitee. The native of Wilcox, Saskatchewan enjoyed an exceptional junior career with the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL. In 276 career games with Brandon, McGauley scored 259 points (102 goals, 157 assists) over parts of five seasons. McGauley is expected to make his AHL debut tonight.

THE STREAKING AUSSIE: Nathan Walker has posted points in five straight games, the longest streak of any Hershey player this season. Walker has seven points (three goals, four assists) in the streak that dates back to Feb. 17. The Aussie's streak is tied for the second longest active point streak in the AHL, just one game behind Manitoba's Nic Petan, who has points in six straight contests. Walker has collected 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) with Hershey this season in just 24 games.

BEARS-PHANTOMS FAST FACTS: The Phantoms are without goaltender Alex Lyon who is 6-1-0 versus Hershey this season. He is currently with the Flyers...Eleven (three goals, eight assists) of Phil Varone's league-leading 56 points have come vs. the Bears this season...Despite the poor record, Hershey's special teams vs. Lehigh Valley have been good this year. The Bears are 7-for-36 (19.4%) on the power play vs. the Phantoms, and the club is 35-for-38 (92.1%) on the penalty kill versus Lehigh Valley...In his last four starts, Hershey's Pheonix Copley is 3-1-0-0 with a 1.77 goals against average and a .933 save percentage with one shutout, while Lehigh Valley's John Muse is 4-0-0-0 in his past four starts with a 2.00 goals against average and a .938 save percentage...Lehigh Valley's Travis Sanheim's 14 points (one goal, 13 assists) were the most in the month of February by a defender, and tied for third most in the month among all skaters in the AHL...The Bears have a power play goal in three of the past four games.

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