Hartford Ties Game Late, Blitz Past Bears in Shootout
David Leggio, seen here earlier in the season, had 34 saves in Hershey’s shootout loss Friday night (Kyle Mace / Sweetest Hockey on Earth)
It was an odd Friday night around the American Hockey League to kickoff a three game weekend, and one that was slightly beneficial to the Hershey Bears Hockey Club despite a 2-1 shootout defeat to the Hartford Wolf Pack.
Peter LeBlanc scored Hershey’s lone goal with 1:04 remaining in an end-to-end second period. David Leggio was superb and earned third star honors from stopping 34 of 35 shots through 65 minutes.
If one could imagine a tale of two hockey games combined into one, that would significantly describe the final meeting of the season between the Capitals and New York Rangers’ lead affiliates.
It was a quick paced, eventless first period with no goals and no penalties. Shots were 10-6 in favor of the Bears after 20 minutes.
The middle period appeared to be heading in a similar direction, before Peter LeBlanc scored his 12th goal on the campaign with 1:04 left until second intermission on a combination play with Matt Watkins and Dane Byers.
Sadly three unanswered Hershey penalties in the middle stages of the third stanza, including a lengthy 5-on-3 chance for the Pack handed them a golden opportunity to tie the game late. Ryan Bourque, brother of Chris Bourque finally hit pay-dirt on David Leggio off his club’s 32 shot of the night.
The goal occurred during Julien Brouillette’s two minute minor for boarding called at 9:51.
65 minutes was not enough for the tenth occasion this season for the Chocolate and White, as the game headed into a skills competition.
Ryan Stoa opened the shootout scoring with his seventh goal out of nine attempts this season, but that was all the support Hershey would receive. T.J. Hensick tallied the shootout winner for the Pack in the third round to down Hershey by a 2-1 final.
Although it was only one standings point for the Hershey Bears, it was a successful night in the standings due to out of town help. The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins were blanked by the Syracuse Crunch, similar to the Bears last weekend, by a 4-0 count in central New York. This creates a tie in points between the Bears and Penguins at 65 entering Saturday.
The Binghamton Senators also lost in regulation to the St. John’s IceCaps, pulling the Chocolate and White within five points of the B-Sens and a possible top three slot in the Eastern Conference standings.
Hershey takes on Charlotte tonight and Sunday for a big two games for the Bears.