The Hershey Bears, who could not find a way to dent the armor of San Antonio Rampage net minder, Josh Tordjman, in the two teams’ last meeting on December 11th, managed to rustle up a 3-2 shootout win on Saturday night at Giant Center. Thanks in part to two of Tordjman’s former teammates, the Bears improved their record to 35-12-0-4.
As was the case on Friday night in Philadelphia, Hershey was a dominant force from the opening faceoff and put five shots on the board before Graham Mink scored his 18th goal at 6:21. Mink, who started the play in his own zone, was able to reap the benefits of his long outlet pass with the help of his linemates, Keith Aucoin and Chris Bourque.
“Aucoin came across the blue line and ripped a shot and kind of snuck in behind the defense,” said Mink, who also tallied the previous evening in Philly. “The rebound came right to me, and when you got an open net like that, you just try to throw it in there. I put it a little closer to the goalie than I wanted. It hit him and kind of trickled into the net. I’ll take it.”
The Rampage, limited to only two shots before Dean Arsene’s tripping penalty at 17:54, peppered Hershey goaltender, Daren Machesney, with a barrage of shots before converting the power play opportunity. David Spina knocked home a rebound in the dying seconds of the period to make it a 1-1 game after 20 minutes of play.
After an uneventful first half of the second period, Hershey’s recently reunited rookie line, consisting of Oskar Osala, Francois Bouchard, and Matthieu Perreault, drew a penalty to Steve Ward.
“I was really happy with them tonight,” said Woods of the rookie line, which combined for 66 points (29+37) in the season’s first 25 games. “They kind of weren’t playing up to where they were early on. Some of it’s just fatigue, getting used to the pro game and travel, the intensity, and playing against men instead of boys.”
While Ward was saddled up in the penalty box, former Rampage, Bryan Helmer, rocketed his first goal of the season past Tordjman on his 68th shot of the season.
The third period was relatively quiet for the first 15 minutes before an open ice hit by Dean Arsene on Chad Kolarik fired up the competitive flame for both club. After Tordjman made quality saves on Aucoin and Kyle Wilson in the ensuing four minutes after the Arsene check, he vacated the crease in favor of an extra attacker, during which time Viktor Tikhonov tied the game at 19:12.
After a scoreless overtime, the teams proceeded to a shootout session, which was Hershey’s 5th in the last nine games.
Hershey head coach, Bob Woods, elected to shoot first, sending Helmer over the boards. Woods, who seemingly abandoned his “defenseman shoots first” strategy in the last six shootouts, reverted back to his old ways.
“Sometimes you just go on a hunch, especially if he’s the first shooter, and if a guy like him scores, it’s a real boost for everybody. Sometimes you roll the dice and it works,” said Woods, explaining his reasoning.
Unfortunately, Helmer, Hershey’s captain, could not replicate his regulation success, and delegated the responsibility of putting the game away to his teammates.
Alexander Nikulin, San Antonio’s first gunslinger, beat Machesney to give the visitors a 1-0 lead after the first round. Bears’ Andrew Gordon and Rampage Spina were both denied in the second round.
In the third round, Bouchard gave Hershey a glimmer of hope when he beat Tordjman, tying the shootout at one. Tikhonov failed in his bid after losing control of the puck. After Aucoin failed in Hershey’s fourth round attempt, Rampage Wyatt Smith’s goal had things looking bleak for the home club.
Kyle Wilson, another former Rampage, was the Bears’ last chance to keep their victory hopes alive. Wilson didn’t let his team down, beating Tordjman low to the stick side.
“I got to go fifth on the team and got to watch him a little bit, and watch some failed attempts,” said Wilson. “He (Tordjman) seemed to have the rest of the net covered, except for the stick side. I tried to back him up and it worked out for me.”
In the sixth round, after Bouchard was denied, Machesney utilized an important weapon in his arsenal to keep his team in the game when he poked the puck off the stick of Nikulin.
“I could tell he was going to deke, and I’ve been really trying to work on my breakaways,” said Machesney. “As a goaltender, you can always use your stick as a tool, so I used it to my advantage.”
Wilson, employing the same successful strategy he used in Round One, found no reason to change his approach.
“He was reading me the exact same way as the first one, so I thought I’d give it a try and it worked out,” said Wilson.
Machesney’s skate save stopped Spina’s attempt to prolong the festivities and gave Hershey the win.