Bears Beat Senators 3-1 in Final Showdown With Binghamton

Tom Gilbert is joined by teammates after scoring the eventual game winning goal for Hershey on Wednesday night against Binghamton (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)

The Hershey Bears hosted the Binghamton Senators Wednesday night before a sold-out Giant Center, and behind goals from Hubert Labrie, Tom Gilbert, and Riley Barber, Hershey took a 3-1 victory tonight. Pheonix Copley backstopped the Bears to the win.

Hershey fell behind the eight ball early in this one, as they were down two men for almost two full minutes thanks to an odd second penalty. Tyler Lewington shoot a rocket of a shot all the way from his own zone into the safety netting behind Binghamton goaltender Matt O’Connor. Thanks to a couple of great saves from Copley and a fantastic goal line save from Labrie, the Bears were able to survive the penalty kill.

The Bears got the first goal of the game later on in the period, as Riley Barber fed Labrie cutting into the slot. Labrie buried a perfect wrist shot, and the Bears led 1-0. Hampus Gustafsson got the secondary assist for his first professional point, a reward for his solid play the last three games.

Despite a few good power play chances, the score would hold until the end of the first period. However, it didn’t take Hershey long to get things going once the second started. Christian Djoos, the great scoring defenseman for the Bears, found himself in an unusual spot for his position—behind the enemy net. Djoos made a beautiful pass to Gilbert, who fired a rocket past O’Connor to put the Bears up by two goals.

Hershey wouldn’t be satisfied with the score. With only 57 seconds remaining in the period, Jakub Vrana threw the puck into the slot, and Riley Barber had it bounce off of him to his stick in O’Connor’s crease. The goal put the Bears up by three going into the second intermission.

The third period started off innocently enough, with the teams trading a couple of power play chances when suddenly Barber broke free from the Binghamton defense on a breakaway and got hooked. The resulting penalty shot was poke-checked away from him by Matt O’Connor.

Then as quickly as the Bears had a chance to seal the deal on that chance, they found themselves down two men for almost two minutes once more, and this time Jason Akeson buried a one-timer from the top of the slot to spoil Copley’s shutout bid.

However, the Bears would shut down any other significant opportunities for the Senators, and the Bears would wrap up their tenth straight home win by the 3-1 score. Copley finished the game with 33 saves on 34 shots, making many of them look natural.

Notes:

• Unfortunately for Hershey, the Phantoms and Sound Tigers also got victories on Wednesday evening, so the Bears remain four points ahead of Bridgeport but jump out to a four-point lead over idle Providence. The Bears travel to St. John’s for two games against the IceCaps on Saturday and Sunday.
• The game is also the last time the Bears will ever face the top AHL team of the Ottawa Senators in Binghamton, as the Senators will move to Belleville come next season. However, the Bears will still travel to Binghamton as the Devils will be moving their AHL franchise there in the 2017-18 season.

Postgame Video:

Lines:
C. Bourque-Stephenson-G. Mitchell
Carey-Boyd-Galiev
Vrana-Gustafsson-Barber
R. Bourque-Walker-Thomas

Djoos-Gilbert
Backman-Lewington
Labrie-Bowey

Three stars of the game:

1. Riley Barber – one goal, one assist
2. Pheonix Copley – 33 saves
3. Tom Gilbert – one goal

Photos:

Paul Carey presented his player of the week award from last weekend’s performance.

Madison Bowey greets Pheonix Copley after the win.