AHL Hershey Bears

Hershey Looks To Tap Into Weekend Success

June 8, 2016 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club needs a win on Saturday to continue the 2016 Calder Cup Finals. Currently down three games to none in the best- of-seven series, the team has battled hard against a deep and talented Lake Erie Monsters squad.

Last Wednesday, the final round opened in Chocolatetown. Jakub Vrana scored the first goal of the Finals at 15:42 of the first period, collecting a pass from Chris Bourque and rifling a shot past Monsters goaltender Anton Forsberg for the rookie's eighth goal of the playoffs. However, Forsberg would settle in, stopping 26 other shots in the contest and allowing his team to come back for a 4-1 victory. Daniel Zaar tied the game with a score on a second-period breakaway. With the game deadlocked 1-1 going into the third, Lake Erie would find the net three times. Trent Vogelhuber netted the winner on a harmless-looking turnaround shot from the left circle that deflected off of a Hershey stick and behind backstop Justin Peters. Zaar scored his second of the game by stealing the puck deep in Hershey real estate and backhanding a shot into the net. Markus Hannikainen then finished off the scoring with a deflection from the slot with 4:51 left to play. Peters made 22 saves in the setback.

The Monsters would grab the game's first goal in Friday night's second game, a power-play goal from rookie Zach Werenski just 3:05 into the contest. After falling behind 2-0 in the second period, Lake Erie paraded to the penalty box, giving Hershey a two-man advantage on which Zach Sill buried his own rebound to put the Bears on the board. But the Monsters charged out further, taking a 4-1 lead on Oliver Bjorkstrand's second goal of the game just 2:04 into the third period. The resilient Bears would mount a furious comeback, drawing within one goal on tallies by Tyler Lewington and Liam O'Brien that were separated but just 1:54. Pulling Peters for a sixth attacker, the Bears had two opportunities to tie the contest before Zaar found the empty net with 1:01 left to play, giving the Monsters a 5-3 win and a 2-0 series lead.

The series shifted to Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena on Monday, and the game started well for Hershey as Ryan Stanton beat Forsberg on Hershey's first shot of the game. Not to be denied for long, Bjorkstrand buried a two-on-one chance just over four minutes later for a 1-1 tie. A late second-period power play goal by Zaar gave Lake Erie the lead, but Dustin Gazley had the answer for that just 47 seconds later, tying the game at the intermission. A nail-biting third period ended scoreless, and in the overtime, Bjorkstrand finished a rebound just 1:20 into the extra session, giving the Monsters a 3-2 win and a commanding series lead heading into Saturday.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

BOURQUE MOVING UP: Chris Bourque continues to climb the playoff stats ladder. Among all AHL players, Bourque has moved into a fourth-place tie with Fred Glover in all-time playoff games played (120). After tallying two goals in game three of the Atlantic Division finals, he became the seventh player in AHL history to record 100 playoff points and now ranks fifth in playoff scoring (29- 78-107). Bourque registered another assist in Friday's game two, and sits two shy of the all-time AHL playoff assist lead held by Darren Haydar (80). In Hershey, Bourque is the new all-time leading playoff scorer, holding a career total of 76 points (20-56-76), passing the legendary Mike Nykoluk (13-60-73). He ranks second in all-time Hershey assists and second in games played (93).

VERSATILE SILL: Forward Zach Sill scored his team-leading third power play goal of the playoffs in Friday's game two. His three power play goals rank tied for second in the AHL. Sill also has scored two shorthanded goals in the postseason, which ties for the AHL lead. Five of Sill's six goals have come on special teams.

HELPFULNESS: Defenseman Aaron Ness recorded the Bears' second three- point game of the playoffs in Friday's game two, tallying assists on all three Hershey goals. He leads all players in the postseason with 12 assists.

WELCOME HOME: Forward Carter Camper, a native of Cleveland's western suburb of Rocky River, is one point shy (6-11-17) of the overall playoff scoring lead (Connor Carrick, 7-11-18) after tallying an assist on Monday. Camper leads all AHL players in power play assists (seven) and power play points (eight), and has a total of 35 points (15-20-35) in 37 career playoff games.

LIAM LIGHTS THE LAMP: Liam O'Brien scored his fourth goal of the postseason on Friday, setting a new personal high for goals in a playoff season. He has also matched his point total (4-2-6) reached in last year's playoffs (3-3-6).

LEWINGTON LIGHTS THE LAMP: Tyler Lewington also scored his fourth goal of the playoffs on Friday, a total which leads all Hershey defensemen and ranks fourth among AHL defensemen.

BEARS-MONSTERS PLAYOFF BULLETS: Monday's game was Hershey's 116th franchise overtime contest in the postseason (62-54)...Hershey is 2-0 in the playoffs following an overtime loss (2-0 W, April 30 vs. POR; 5-3 W, 5/11 vs. WBS)...The Bears have been involved in three penalty shots in the postseason, most among AHL teams... The team has been involved in 10 penalty shots since opening night, most in the AHL (took three, faced seven)... Goaltenders are perfect on penalty shots faced in the playoffs...Lake Erie averages 10.06 penalty minutes per game in the playoffs, but has a total of only 12 through the Finals...Hershey also has a total of 12 penalty minutes in the Finals...The Bears are 1-7 allowing three or more goals in a game, and 10- 2 allowing two or fewer...Hershey is 4-9 on games played Monday through Friday, and 7-0 on the weekend.

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