Sports stats

AHL Hershey Bears

Second Consecutive Week with Five Points for Hershey

December 15, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release


The Hershey Bears Hockey Club picked up five of six points in Week 10, including its first shootout victory of the year, to solidify second place in the Atlantic Division.

The one point lost by the Bears came on Wednesday at PPL Center in Allentown. Connor Carrick and Mike Moore gave the Bears a 2-0 lead that lasted through the midway point of the third period, but the Lehigh Valley Phantoms poured on the pressure and eventually came all the way back to win 3-2 in overtime. Carrick's goal came on the first power play of the night, a slapper that eluded Anthony Stolarz. Moore scored in the second period while the teams skated four-on-four, collecting a beautiful behind-the-back pass from Travis Boyd and slamming a shot home for his second in as many games at Lehigh Valley. Petr Straka snapped Dan Ellis' shutout bid at 11:22 of the third period, and just under six minutes later, rookie Danick Martel tied the contest. In the overtime, Phantoms leading scorer Nick Cousins completed a three-on-two rush with a wrist shot that beat Ellis with 1:15 left on the clock. Ellis made 28 saves in the setback.

Following a rare Friday night off, the Bears returned home on Saturday to host their former division rival Binghamton Senators for the first matchup of the season. The Bears blitzed the struggling Senators in the first period, getting two goals from Connor Carrick and one each from Riley Barber and Chandler Stephenson to take a 4-0 lead after one. Binghamton avoided real disaster by killing a full two minutes of a Hershey five-on-three power play in that opening frame, later mounting a comeback to draw within one goal. Colin Greening and Eric O'Dell netted second- period goals while Buddy Robinson scored with 4:28 left in regulation to draw within 4-3. But Chris Bourque collected a Dustin Gazley steal and hit the vacated Senators net at 19:44 to seal a 5-3 win, the Bears' seventh straight at GIANT Center. Senators backstop Andrew Hammond allowed four goals for the second consecutive night of his conditioning loan and took the loss. Justin Peters won with 29 saves on 32 shots.

On Sunday evening in Bridgeport, Peters was the star of the show, stopping 32 shots in the first 65 minutes of play and denying both opponents in the Bears' sixth shootout of the season, giving the club its first shootout win in a 2-1 decision over the Sound Tigers. Ryan Pulock's second-period power play goal was the only blemish on the night for Peters, a goal that gave Bridgeport a 1-0 advantage. It would be the first power play goal allowed by the Bears in their last 24 penalty kills, and the only one on eight Bridgeport chances in the game. Sean Collins finally beat Christopher Gibson with a deflection of a Bourque shot during a third- period power play, forcing the extra play. After a thrilling three-on-three overtime, Carrick and Travis Boyd scored the shootout tallies for Hershey, who extended its point streak to six games (4-0-1-1). Peters won his third straight start in earning second-star honors.

HERSHEY BEARS NEWS AND NOTES

BOURQUE CLIMBS BEARS LADDER: Chris Bourque extended his point streak to a season-long six games over the weekend, adding five points (1-4-5) to total nine (3-6-9) in the streak. His 24 points (9-15-24) rank tied for sixth in the AHL. Bourque's career numbers in Hershey continue to climb as he has amassed 417 (140 goals, 277 assists). Sitting 10th all-time in Bears scoring history, he is just seven points behind Frank Mario for ninth place. Bourque has posted the 417 points in 418 career games with the Bears, a total which ranks 24th in Hershey history - 17 games behind Mario and 21 behind the AHL's legendary all-time points leader Willie Marshall.

BARBER BAGGING POINTS: Riley Barber notched points in all three games last week, scoring a goal and three assists. He is tied for the Bears' scoring lead among rookies and tied for 16th in AHL rookie scoring (3-10-13).

BOYD BEATS BRIDGEPORT: Travis Boyd ended the Bears' first shootout in six tries this season on the winning side on Sunday at Bridgeport. He earned the game's number one star for the goal, and added three points (0-3-3) in the two prior games to tie Riley Barber for the Bears' rookie scoring lead (3-10-13). He is also tied for 16th in AHL rookie scoring.

PETERS IN THE PIPES: Goaltender Justin Peters won his back-to-back starts over the weekend to extend his win streak to three games, and his regulation unbeaten streak to four. In his four December starts, Peters is 3-0-1 with a 1.93 goals against average and .929 save percentage. He has just one regulation loss in his last seven starts.

CARRICK-TER: Blueliner Connor Carrick saw his three-game goal streak snapped on Sunday, ending an incredible week. He scored the first Bears' goal on Wednesday at Lehigh Valley, and added two first-period goals on Saturday against Binghamton. Carrick has five goals in December and eight on the season, which ranks him second in the AHL among defensemen in goal scoring. His 15 points (8-7-15) are tied for 11th among AHL defensemen and his eight goals also match his single-season career best, which he set last year (8-34-42). His 65 shots on goal rank fourth among defensemen, and is the only AHL defenseman to have recorded a shootout goal - and winner - so far this season.

BEARS BULLETS: Hershey moved up to sixth in the AHL in penalty killing (86.3%) and still ranks first at home (94.4%)...The Bears have seven wins when scoring the first goal of the game and when allowing the first goal of the game...The Bears are tied for first in the league in fewest home regulation losses (one)...The Bears are 13-0-0-0 when allowing two or fewer goals and have won all three 2-1 decisions this season (one regulation, one OT, one SO)...The Bears lead the AHL in attendance (117,143 total, 9,011 average).

Check out the Hershey Bears Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from December 15, 2015


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Hershey Bears Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central