By John Sparenberg:
The Hershey Bears, rebounding from their lone setup in the month of February on Sunday in Bridgeport, returned to their winning ways on Wednesday night in Hartford, pouncing upon the Atlantic Division cellar dwelling Wolf Pack, 4-1.
With the victory, the Bears finished out February with a glowing 11-1 record, with the loss to Bridgeport being the only blemish of the month.
The Wolfpack outshot and also out-chanced the Bears through two periods, carrying a 19-14 shot advantage and a 1-0 lead into the third into the period, a lead that would have certainly been wider had it not been for the outstanding play of Bears netminder Ilya Samsonov, who carried a streak of 11 straight starts without a regulation loss (10-0-0-1) into the contest.
Samsonov's counterpart in net, Brandon Halverson, held the Bears off the board for 52 minutes, before a power play tally by Riley Barber began a Bears barrage of four straight goals.
Defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler quickly broke the tie less than a minute later when his point shot through a chorus line of players somehow eluded Halverson. Siegenthaler's strike was his second of the year, and ultimately turned out to be his first career game-winning goal.
Halverson later contributed to his own demise, turning the puck over to Barber in the trapezoid area, with Barber happily accepting the gift and turning it into an easy unassisted goal. Barber's multi-goal output increased his season total to 26, matching his career high set in his rookie campaign with the Bears in the 2015-2016 season.
Nathan Walker, netting his 13th goal of the season and first of the calendar year on the road, closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal at 18:41.
