On Friday the 13th you'd expect some bizarre happening, but Saturday the 14th, not so much. But last night at Giant Center, the Hershey Bears bounced by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in a weird one, 5-2, to obtain their fifth straight triumph.
The visitors, who arrived in town in the wee hours of the morning after enduring a long bus ride from Utica, New York, received an early wakeup call from the Bears only 1:49 after the opening faceoff, when Brian Pinho, playing in his 100th game as a Bear made it 1-0 for when he shoveled Axel Jonsoon-Fjallby's centering pass by Bridgeport netminder Jakub Skarek's glove.
Keifer "Bank Shot" Bellows responded to tie the game at 7:48, when he scored after launching a puck towards the crease while stationed beneath the goal line, that caromed first off goaltender Vitek Vanacek and then off of Bears defenseman, number two in your program, Tyler Lewington, who was jostling for position in front of the net with a Bridgeport attacker.
Not to be outdone by Bellows' billiard ability, the Bears tandem of Joe Snively and Mike Sgarbossa combined their own billiard skills to give the Bears a 2-1 lead at 11:44 . Snively started the sequence from just inside his own zone by banking a slick no-look through the legs pass off the boards to a streaking Sgarbossa who received the pass in full flight in the neutral zone. After gaining the Bridgeport zone, Sgarbossa peeled off and tried to center a pass to linemate Garrett Pilon, but the pass never Reached Pilon's stick, however it did find the twig of Bridegport defenseman Seth Hegelson, their own number two, who mistakenly put it into his own cage.
Philippe Maillet's faceoff win in the offensive zone led to his fourth goal of the season seconds later when he somehow managed to go undetected by the defense, and redirected Liam O'Brien's centering pass by a stunned Skarek at 12:38.
The visitors closed the gap early in the second stanza when long time NHL'er Andrew Ladd delected an airborne missile by Vanacek, but the Bears fourth line of the Kale Kessy, Chris McCarthy and Kody Clark went to work shortly afterwards, drawing a power-play when Kessy absorbed a nasty looking blow from behind by Bridgeport defenseman Bode Wilde.
It took the Bears just over thirty ticks of the scoreboard clock to strike on the PP with Matt Moulson potting the marker after gathering in the rebound of a Sgarbossa shot that struck Helgeson in the backside before finding the home clubs' longtime NHL'er.
Off the ensuing center ice faceoff, Pinho interecpted a Bridgeport pass at center ice and dished off to Brett Leason who promptly put the puck back on Pinho's blade, and the "Centurian centerman" then found the third member of the line, O'Brien, who was cruising down the slot and finished off the play to increase the Bears' lead.
The third period saw the visitors enjoy a 9-3 shot advantage, thanks largely in part to being on the power play for most of it, including a couple of five-on-three opportunities, but Vanacek and his mates withstood to charge to emerge victorious.
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