Bears Snap Losing Skid with 3-2 Win against Norfolk

Andrew Carroll waits in front of Dustin Tokarski for the puck. Photo by John Wright.

With one game left before the All-Star break, the Bears had one more chance to start their break by snapping their losing skid against the Norfolk Admirals.

Unlike last night, both teams scored power play goals to start the game off. Ryan Potulny scored the first goal of the game. The Admirals countered with a power play goal from Tyler Johnson a few minutes later. Tie game after one period.

Braden Holtby continued to look sharp. He bailed out his team multiple times. Ryan Potulny finally paid him back with his second power play goal of the game. Unfortunately, the Admirals only needed 15 seconds to tie the game back up.

Early in the third period, Christian Hanson gave Hershey the lead when he converted a Norfolk turnover. The Bears stood up a lot of Admiral momentum, especially at the very end. But Hanson’s goal stood up and the Bears won, 3-2! It’s a good way to go into the break!

Tonight’s Notes:

• Stick tap to Tim Leone for this stat: With an assist on Potulny’s goal, “Keith Aucoin tied Mitch Lamoureux for No. 9 on Hershey’s all-time assists list (254).”
• Speaking of Aucoin, he reached 70 points tonight. According to Scott Stuccio, this is the seventh time in his career that he has reached 7o points in a season.
• Decent special teams showing: The Bears scored on two of five power plays. They also stopped three of Norfolk’s four power plays.
• Another big night for Holtby: as mentioned above, he was on his game. He stopped 38 of 40 shots. That is the second night in a row that Holtby faced 40 shots or more.

Lines and Pairings:

Micflikier – Aucoin – Potulny
Kane – Eakin – Bourque
Greentree – Hanson – Ford
Mitchell – Carroll – Rechlicz

McNeill – Collins
Brouillette – Kundratek
Richmond – Miskovic

Three stars of the game:

1. Ryan Potulny (HER)
2. Cory Conacher (NOR)
3. Tyler Johnson (NOR)