Hershey cruises past Albany 10-4

Published on January 15, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


Albany, NY- The Bears scored five-straight first period goals and Alexandre Giroux recorded a hat trick and chipped-in two assists as the Bears coasted to a 10-4 win Friday night at the Times Union Center.

Kieth Aucoin and Chris Bourque both tallied one goal with two assists, while Jay Beagle and Andrew Gordon each scored a goal and an assist to give the Bears their thirteenth win in their last fourteen games. Brad Herauf scored twice for Albany, which saw its three-game point streak snapped by the defending Calder Cup Champions.

The River Rats ran into penalty trouble in the opening minutes of action and Hershey made them pay with a pair of power play tallies to open the score sheet. The first came on a 5-on-3 advantage just two minutes into the game, when Giroux's one-time attempt miscued to Aucoin for a far-side put-away. Mathieu Perreault connected at 7:40 to double the Bears lead on a give-and-go play with Francois Bouchard. Giroux scored his first of the night at 13:22, when Andrew Gordon won a loose puck behind the net and set-up an uncontested blast from close-range. Bourque made it 4-0 Bears just 22 seconds later on a 2-on-1 rush that chased River Rats starting goaltender Justin Peters. Backup goalie Mike Murphy allowed Hershey's final goal of the frame on his first shot faced at 14:52, a backhander from Beagle.

Peters returned to his post for the second period, but the Bears picked-up right where they'd left off, as Boyd Kane scored a short-handed tally at 1:14 for a 6-0 lead. River Rats leading scorer Jerome Samson, in his return from his first career NHL call-up, put Albany on the board at 8:10 on a close-range deke to his backhand that popped into the air and fell across the goal line. Hershey struck again at 11:41 when Andrew Gordon poked a rebound through Peters to make it 7-1 after two periods.

Giroux netted his second of the night on a power play drive at 1:17 of the third period and Kyle Wilson added his name to the scorer's column with a partial breakaway at 3:27. Giroux completed his hat trick at 5:39 of the final stanza, intercepting a clearing attempt from Peters and guiding the puck into an empty net. River Rats All-Star representative Bryan Rodney scored his third of the season at 9:14 on the power play, and Albany's Brad Herauf took advantage of a fortunate bounce off of the boards to catch Hershey goaltender Jason Bascashihua out of position for the River Rats' third goal of the night at 13:33. Herauf struck again with 2:35 left for the game's final goal.

Bascashihua stopped 19-of-23 to earn the win as the Bears improved to 30-9-0-2 this year. Peters turned-aside 26-of-35 in 54:17 of action for the loss, as the River Rats fell to 21-16-2-2 this season. Murphy stopped 1-of-2 in 4:26 of ice time. The Bears out-shot Albany 37-23 and went 3-for-5 on the power play, while the River Rats went 0-for-3 on the man-advantage.

Albany completes its season-high five game home-stand Saturday evening against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers at 5:00 p.m. The River Rats then travel to Portland on Sunday for a 4:05 p.m. faceoff against the Bruins in their final game before the All-Star break. 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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American Hockey League Stories from January 15, 2010


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