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AHL Hershey Bears

Lengthy Opening Round Still Undecided

May 6, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The road team has been victorious all the way through the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the HERSHEY BEARS and Providence Bruins, a series which began with a 5-2 Hershey victory on April 26. A hold of this pattern would thus favor the Bears heading into Wednesday's Game Five at Dunkin' Donuts Center.

The Bruins forced the series to return to their home by virtue of posting two wins at GIANT Center over the weekend. The Bears scored first in Saturday's Game Three, when Michael Latta stuffed the rebound of a shot by Nicolas Deschamps behind Niklas Svedberg. But former Bears winger Chris Bourque took over by tying the game, setting up a goal and adding a second of his own in the third period as the Bruins went on to a 5-1 victory.

In a wild Game Four on Sunday, the Bears battled back from a 2-0 first-period deficit when Joey Crabb scored twice, tying the game early in the third. A Peter LeBlanc go-ahead goal would be waved off due to interference on Svedberg. Later, the Bruins would forge ahead on the second of three Carter Camper tallies. Casey Wellman then tied the contest at three with a slap shot off of a faceoff. Tom Wilson scored his first professional goal with 4:40 left, giving the Bears their first lead. But on a late power play, Craig Cunningham one-timed a shot past Philipp Grubauer to tie the game with 2:34 left. The Bruins would then stun the Bears when Camper completed a hat trick by sending a slap shot from the high slot past a screened Grubauer. The Bears battled in the final minute using six attackers but could not get the equalizer.

The winner of Wednesday's Game Five at Providence will advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

STILL UNDECIDED: While the rest of the American Hockey League waits, the Bears and Bruins will play a fifth and decisive game in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Wednesday. It marks the second consecutive season that the Bears will be involved in a winner-take-all game in the opening round. In 2012, the Bears forced a fifth game against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

LeLEADER: Bears leading playoff scorer C Peter LeBlanc helped set up two more goals on Sunday to take over the AHL postseason lead in assists (seven). LeBlanc is also tied for the league lead in power-play assists (three) and is tied for fifth in overall scoring (0-7-7).

JOEY ON THE SPOT: After scoring his first two Hershey postseason goals at key times, including the game-tying marker on April 28, RW Joey Crabb struck twice in Sunday's Game Four to help the team battle back from an early deficit. Now with four postseason goals, Crabb ranks third in the overall AHL category.

HE'S A WINNER: RW Jon DiSalvatore tallied the game-winning goals for the Bears in both contests to open the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. DiSalvatore is tied for the AHL postseason lead in the statistic. Both goals came on the power play, a category in which DiSalvatore is also tied for the league lead.

FIRST-ROUNDER NETS FIRST: RW Tom Wilson, Washington's 16th-overall selection in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, scored his first AHL goal in Sunday's Game Four. D Cameron Schilling was the last Bears rookie to record his first professional goal in a postseason game, on April 25, 2012 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

POWERFUL: The Bears have scored the most goals on the power play (six) among all AHL playoff teams, and have the most power play goals scored on the road (five). On 22 opportunities, the Bears' power play success rate sits at 27.2% and ranks second in the league. Providence scored four times on the power play on the road, matching the Bears' league-leading success rate away from home (50.0%).

WILL FIVE WIN GAME FIVE? The winning team in this series has scored five goals each time. The Bruins have the slight edge in overall scoring at 16-15 through the four games played.

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