With some stellar effort from several New England boys, the Hershey Bears finished the weekend on a strong note when they defeated the Providence Bruins, 6-4, at Giant Center on Sunday evening.
Providence goaltender, Tuukka Rask, known as one of the premier goaltenders in the AHL, was under siege from the opening faceoff, and stopped the first six shots, including Graham Mink’s bid just 50 seconds into the game. Mink’s shot at 4:01, proved to be lucky number seven when gently guided Keith Aucoin’s pass into an unguarded net, giving the Bears an early 1-0 lead. Former Bruin, Aucoin, a native of Waltham, Massachusetts and the league’s top scorer, added two assists to his resume tonight.
“He’s a great goaltender, he’s very good laterally and he covers well above his pads where a lot of goalies sometimes have trouble,” said Mink, a native of Stowe, Vermont. “I think he made a lot of great saves on a lot of guys tonight, but when you’ve got a great passer like Aucoin on your line, it’s hard for him to stop them all.”
Bruins’ Mikko Lehtonen tied up the game at 8:32 after depositing his own rebound behind Hershey netminder, Daren Machesney.
With Providence on a power play early in the second period, Vladimir Sobotka took a five minute major penalty for boarding Hershey defenseman, Karl Alzner. As a result of the collision, Alzner suffered a cut under his eye, but remained in the game and played a major role in his team’s success.
“I got a pretty big chin and a decently tough jaw,” Alzner joked. ”I didn’t think I was in a vulnerable position so I have no fault for that, but at the same time, you don’t expect to be hit like that. There’s a few guys in the league that probably will, but I didn’t expect it and it did stun me, but it’s fine.”
During the resulting 4-on-4 situation, Zach Hamill beat Machesney on a breakaway after blocking Bears’ Kyle Wilson’s point attempt from the Hershey blue line to make it a 2-1 game.
Chris Bourque, born in Boston during his father, Ray Bourque’s illustrious career, tied the game at two at 14:16.
Only 19 ticks later, Hershey’s Alexandre Giroux, denied by Rask twice earlier in the period, finally found a chink in Rask’s armor when he found success with his fade away slapshot, to knot the score once again.
“We did the same play two shifts before, but Lepisto passed to Aucoin instead of me, so this time I thought I’d try the other side and I called for it,” said Giroux, the AHL’s leading goal scorer. “I was drifting and just tried to put the puck on net and I was lucky enough it went by him.”
A mere minute-and-a-half after his first goal, Giroux doubled his pleasure with another tally, scoring his 43rd of the season, which was assisted by Mink and Tyler Sloan, to put Hershey up, 4-2.
Former Bear, Johnny Boychuk, the AHL’s top goal scoring defenseman, added to his 15 goal total, by blasting a power play goal through Hershey’s defense and into the back of the net. Boychuk’s total of 16 goals is only three less than the combined total of the ten defenseman on the Bear’s roster.
Alzner’s third goal of the season, threaded between a pair of Providence defenders, halted the Bruins’momentum and gave his team back a more comfortable two-goal cushion.
“I knew there were a lot of guys in front, so I just really tried to get it on net,” said Alzner. “Perreault said he didn’t think I was going to shoot it because he passed a little far behind me, but I find I shoot the best one-timers when it’s off my back foot.”
Bourque’s second goal of the game and Jeremy Reich’s 6-on-3 power play goal, with 23 seconds left, finished off the scoring. The Bears finished off a tough 4-in-5 sequence, garnering six of a possible eight points, clinging to a four-point lead over the second place Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Mink, one of Hershey’s alternate captains, was not surprised that his team was able to finish the stretch so strongly after stumbling earlier in the week.
“I feel like we’ve been playing some good hockey for the last couple weeks now, and it hasn’t necessarily been translated. It seems like we’re starting to get on a roll now and hopefully we can continue.”