Even though the Norfolk Admirals succeeded in putting an end to Alexandre Giroux’s AHL record goal-scoring spree, halting the streak at 15 consecutive games, they were unable to stop five other Hershey Bears from navigating to the back of net, as the Chocolate and White sailed to a 6-2 win on Wednesday night at Norfolk Scope.
With the win, the Bears improved to 31-12-0-2 on the campaign, with six of those victories coming at the expense of the Admirals who are coached by former Bear, Darren Rumble.
Norfolk goaltender, Karri Ramo, who snared a quality scoring chance off the stick of Graham Mink early in the first period, wasn’t as fortunate later in the period, when Mink back-handed a pass from Keith Aucoin behind him at 16:37, staking the Bears to a 1-0 lead.
Not content with the slim one-goal lead, the Bears quickly tacked on a second goal only 47 seconds after the Mink tally, when defenseman Patrick McNeill back-handed a rebound behind Ramo at 17:24.
With only 1.2 seconds remaining before the first intermission, Kyle Wilson, appearing in his 148th straight contest, deftly deflected a Dean Arsene point shot high into the net to give Hershey a 3-0 lead.
Early in the second period, former Bear, Grant Potulny, broke Daren Machesney’s bid for his 4th shutout of the season, striking for his 7th goal as an Admiral at 3:02 to cut the Bears bulge to 3-1.
Potulny added his second point of the game at 6:23, assisting on a goal by Blair Jones, making it a one-goal Hershey lead at 3-2.
With his club on their second power play, Keith Aucoin, the AHL’s leading scorer, powered a cross-ice pass from Giroux off of the inside of the goal pad of Ramo to give the Bears a 4-2 lead at 9:35. With the assist, Giroux tied Wes Jarvis’ franchise record for points in consecutive games with 20.
Chris Bourque, one of four Hershey All-Star representatives, increased the lead to 5-2 at 6:01 of the third period. Bourque’s goal, his 9th of the season, was his third against the Admirals.
Wilson, netting his 19th marker of the season, finished off the game’s scoring at 9:26, once again brilliantly deflecting a shot high into the Norfolk net.
Machesney, who withstood a 22-shot Norfolk barrage in the second period, stopped a season-high 45 shots to register his 12th win of the season.