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AHL Hershey Bears

Hershey Weekly

February 16, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club swept its weekend set of games to nab six more points and vault into second place in the AHL's Eastern Conference.

The club began a busy weekend of travel on Friday with a visit to New York's Capital District to take on the Albany Devils. Goaltenders Philipp Grubauer and Scott Wedgewood put on a show for the fans, with each making key saves in the opening period to keep the game scoreless. Stanislav Galiev finally lit the lamp late in the middle frame and Grubauer would do the rest, finishing with 35 saves to send Hershey to a 1-0 victory. Tim Kennedy and Chris Conner picked up assists on the goal.

The team returned home to host the Portland Pirates on Saturday. Galiev would bury two more goals, Dustin Gazley also chipped in two goals and Grubauer made another 28 saves to help the Bears cruise to a 5-2 win. Darian Dziurzynski answered Gazley's first of the game in the opening period, and the contest would head to the second all square. But Gazley's second was followed up by Galiev's pair, and Joel Broda's fourth of the season early in the third put a strangle hold on the game. Corey Trivino would finish an odd-man rush with Henrik Samuelsson to round out the scoring. Kennedy added two more assists in the game to tie for the league lead in helpers, while the defense duo of Connor Carrick and Mike Moore earned a game-high plus-three rating.

Following the game, the Bears embarked on a lengthy night of travel through rough winter weather to face the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Sunday. Former Bears goaltender David Leggio opposed Pheonix Copley in this contest and both were sharp in the opening period, sending the teams to the intermission scoreless. The Bears would open the game up by striking three times in the middle frame, with Gazley netting another two goals and Conner getting credit for a power-play deflection. Cory Conacher snapped Copley's shutout bid halfway through the third period, giving Bridgeport some momentum. But Casey Wellman ended that in a hurry, scoring two goals just under five minutes apart to seal the win. Copley made 27 saves in earning his ninth win of the campaign and third- star honors.

The Bears became the league's third team to reach 30 wins with Sunday's victory, and extended their point streak to a league season-best 13 games (11-0-1-1). The streak matched the second-longest in franchise history (2001-02), and is two shy of the 1942-43 franchise record of 15 games.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

DUSTIN THE OPPONENTS: RW Dustin Gazley posted his most successful weekend since joining the Bears last season, when he notched back-to-back two-goal games on Saturday and Sunday. He is the eighth Bears player to reach 20 points (10-10-20) and sixth to reach 10 or more goals.

STAN THE MAN: RW Stan Galiev extended his point streak to six games (5- 4-9), scoring the lone goal on Friday at Albany, burying two on Saturday against Portland and setting up the game-winner on Sunday at Bridgeport. Among the AHL, Galiev's 11 power-play goals lead, his 20 power-play points rank tied for second and his five game-winning goals are tied for fourth. He is on a three-game home goal streak, attempting to match his AHL season-best six-game streak set from Nov. 26-Dec. 13.

CONNER'S ON: LW Chris Conner is also on a six-game point streak (4-4-8) following his assists on both Friday and Saturday, and his power-play game- winner on Sunday. Conner has 33 points (14-19-33) in 36 games in his inaugural season in Hershey, and his five game-winning goals are tied for the team lead and for fourth in the AHL.

GIANT GOALTENDING: G Philipp Grubauer posted his fifth shutout of the season on Friday at Albany, which ties for second in the AHL. It was his 10th Hershey shutout, which ties him with Peter Budaj for seventh in Bears history. Grubauer is 4-0-0 in February with two shutouts, is 8-0-0 since returning from injury on January 17 and is 10-1-0 in his last 11 starts. G Pheonix Copley is also unbeaten in regulation in 2015, going 4-0-2 in his six starts, which includes a third-star win at Bridgeport on Sunday. The Bears have eight team shutouts, which ranks second in the AHL and is one shy of the franchise single-season record of nine.

WELLMAN HITS 100: RW Casey Wellman scored two goals on Sunday at Bridgeport, and now has 100 points (43-57-100) in his 143-game Hershey career.

BEARS BULLETS: Hershey leads the AHL with 33 first-goals, and is 23-7-3-0 when scoring first...Hershey leads the AHL in penalty killing (88.2%)...Hershey leads the AHL in goals against per game (2.16)...Hershey has climbed into 12th in goals per game (2.84)...Hershey's six-game road winning streak is the longest active streak in the league, and is two shy of both the AHL's season- longest and the Bears' franchise best, set three times (1964-65, 2001-02, 2006-07)...The Bears have had five consecutive crowds of over 10,000 and in six of the last seven games at GIANT Center, and lead the AHL in attendance (9,633 per game).

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