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AHL Hershey Bears

Perfect Week Vaults Bears Up Standings

April 7, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club picked up all six points on the week, during the first portion of the team's longest road trip - in miles and in consecutive games - of the season.

In a game rescheduled from Friday to Wednesday, the Bears first took on the Portland Pirates in Lewiston, Maine. After falling behind on a goal by Tobias Rieder, Jeff Taffe's 19th of the season came just 27 seconds later to tie the game. Andy Miele put Portland ahead at the first intermission, but on the first pro goal from Caleb Herbert and the first goal of the Bears tenure of Kris Newbury, Hershey forged ahead. David Leggio then denied all 12 of the Pirates' third-period chances to send Hershey to a 3-2 win.

Following two practice days in Worcester, the Bears and Sharks finally got going on Saturday. Once again the visitors scored first, as Chad Rau beat Philipp Grubauer from in close early in the second period. Herbert again came up big, tying the game with a shot past Troy Grosenick. Chay Genoway sent the Bears to a 2-1 lead moments later, a lead which held until the final minute of regulation. With Grosenick off for a sixth attacker, Dan DaSilva scored with 34.3 seconds left to tie the game. But in overtime - off of the second perfect pass of the night from captain Dane Byers - Casey Wellman broke in alone and ended the game in the sudden death.

The wildest game of the trip came on Sunday at Bridgeport, as the rookie- laden Sound Tigers lineup battled back from 3-0 down to take a 4-3 lead early in the third. Newbury scored twice and set up another Wellman tally to put Hershey ahead, but goals from Alan Quine, two from Andrey Pedan and one from Brant Harris put the hosts in front. Byers would tie the game shortly after, and Michael Latta would net the winner at 10:23 for a 5-4 decision.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

DYNAMITE DEBUT: Washington Capitals 2010 draft selection Caleb Herbert made a splash last week, tallying his first pro assist and later the game-tying goal in an eventual 3-2 Hershey win at Portland on Wednesday. Herbert added another goal on Saturday at Worcester, and shows (2-1-3) and a plus- three rating in his first ten pro periods.

NEW-BURYING: LW Kris Newbury factored into all three Hershey wins on the week. The veteran opened the week by scoring his first Bears goal - the game-winner - on Wednesday at Portland. He set up Chay Genoway's go- ahead goal on Saturday at Worcester, and then tied a Bears season high for points in a game on Sunday (2-2-4) for first-star honors in the Bears' win over Bridgeport. Newbury has 10 points (3-7-10) in 11 games since joining Hershey on March 12.

GRUBAUER GETS REWARDED: G Philipp Grubauer snapped a personal six-game skid in a big way on Saturday, stopping 33 shots through 3 + periods of work and earning the game's third star honor in the Bears' victory at Worcester. In his last four appearances, Grubauer was 1-3-0 but has been named the game's third star three times and stopped at least 33 shots in each game (a total of 134 of 144 shots, a .931 save percentage and a 2.48 goals- against average).

LEGG WORK: G David Leggio picked up wins on Wednesday and on Sunday to extend his personal win streak to a season-best four games. Leggio is also 6-1-0 in his last seven contests, and has pulled into 19th in the AHL in goals- against average (2.62) and is tied for fifth in saves (1191). He is also tied for fourth in shootout wins (five).

WINNING WITH WELLMAN: RW Casey Wellman buried the overtime winner on Saturday at Worcester, and now leads the Bears with five game-winning goals on the season. He added another tally on Sunday at Bridgeport, his 18th goal of the season, to bypass his 2010-11 production with Houston (14-21-35) for a new personal best for single-season points (18-18-36). Wellman has 66 points (27-39-66) in 87 games since being acquired on January 31, 2013.

GREAT DANE: Bears captain Dane Byers recorded three points (1-2-3) and a plus-three rating in the Bears' last two victories.

BEARS' BULLETS:

- Coupled with losses by Norfolk and Albany on Sunday, the Bears now occupy the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with 82 points, and sit just one point behind the seventh-place Albany Devils; four points behind the sixth-place Providence Bruins and six points behind the fifth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The Bears have one game in hand on all three teams ahead.

- The Bears set a new season high for consecutive road wins (three) with Sunday's victory at Bridgeport, and are one win shy of their- season-best six-game streak set between January 18-31.

- The Bears bypassed their win total from last season (36-31-3-6) and their point total (81) with Sunday's victory. 81 points qualified for the postseason in 2012-13.

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