Senators record rare win against Bears, 4-2

Before the game, Andrew Gordon called it:

When the Binghamton Senators scored the first two goals of the game, it was the first time the Senators held a lead against the Bears this season. Boyd Kane got his seventh goal of the season to cut Binghamton’s lead in half. Andrew Joudrey tied the game at two goals a piece with a goal late in the second period. It all came down to the third period.

Unfortunately, it was Binghamton that was ready to finish the game. Try as he might, Jay Beagle just could not get a goal. He had a lot of good chances but none were going his way. Hershey had a good push in the waning minutes of the game, but Barry Brust stood strong and even got the secondary assist on the empty net goal to make it 4-2 Senators over Bears.

Yes, Brust put on a much better performance than on Sunday. He stopped 42 shots tonight, giving himself a .954 save percentage. That’s a pretty good way to make up for a .771 save percentage from the last game.

So, close…but no cigar. The Bears need to rest up because they’ve got a big game against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tomorrow. What better way to redeem themselves? Oh, and please send a ‘Get Well Soon’ card to our many injured players.

Tonight’s Notes:

• Fan favorite, Jeff Smith was the referee tonight. While the teams were pretty disciplined, it seems strange that there were only four penalties. Especially when there were 21 penalties and 23 penalties in the first two games between these teams. They don’t call him Jeff “Let ’em play” Smith for nothing!
• Sheldon Souray finally returned to the line-up after injuring his hand in a fight back on October 23rd. Judging by his bomb of a slapshot, his hand is just fine.
• I’d love to give you the lines and pairings for tonight’s game but they were a bit difficult to tell. Due to injuries taking out Brian Willsie, Francois Bouchard, and Steve Pinizzotto from this game, Hershey played with 7 defensemen. They was definitely a lot of line shuffling.
• Because of injuries, the Bears called up Nikita Kashirsky from South Carolina and played his first AHL game of the regular season. I’m willing to bet that, if these injuries are serious, there will be another forward making his way up to Hershey.
• Did anyone think that this would be such a low scoring game for the Bears? Especially after winning 7-1 in the first meeting of the season and winning 8-3 in the second meeting.
• Gordon certainly expressed his feelings on tonight’s game…



Better luck next time?

Actual three stars of the game:

1. Bobby Butler (BNG)
2. Andre Benoit (BNG)
3. Dmitri Kugryshev (HER)

Sweetest Hockey On Earth’s three stars of the game:

1. Kugryshev: assists on both goals
2. Joudrey: second goal for Hershey
3. Kane: first goal for Hershey