After a disappointing loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins the night before, when they blew a two goal lead, Hershey Bears’ head coach, Bob Woods, decided to shake things up a bit by making major changes to the roster. Part of the roster roulette was to insert rookie center, Matthieu Perreault, onto a line with Chris Bourque and Jay Beagle, instead of with his normal companions, fellow rookies, Oskar Osala and Francois Bouchard, both of whom were healthy scratches.
Partnering Perreault with Bourque and Beagle paid huge dividends, as the line accounted for two of the Bears’ four goals, propelling their team to a 4-2 victory over the Norfolk Admirals at Giant Center.
Hershey’s goaltender, Michal Neuvirth, making his fourth consecutive start in net, didn’t see his first shot until 6:50 when Blair Jones sizzled a slapshot past him, giving the Admirals a 1-0 lead. Darren Reid, appearing in his first action since the Bears-Admirals tilt on Jan. 7th in Norfolk, was the guilty party serving his sentence when Jones struck.
Hershey’s Andrew Gordon, scoreless in his previous 10 games, tied the game at 1-1 at 11:57, just seconds after Reid flattened Norfolk defenseman, Kevin Quick, at center ice. Gordon’s linemate, Kyle Wilson, started the Hershey foray in the Norfolk zone. Wilson, attempting a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circle fanned on his shot, but had the presence of mind to kick the puck to Gordon, who rifled a wrist shot behind Norfolk goaltender, Mike McKenna.
“I don’t know whether he tried to kick it on purpose, or if he was trying to kick it back to his own stick, but I’m thankful it happened either way,“ said Gordon. “If he would have got that shot away, he would have had a good chance of scoring, too, but I was fortunate enough that it squirted to me.”
Hershey alternate captain, Dean Arsene’s jarring hit on longtime nemesis, Zenon Konopka, at the Hershey blue line, started a strange string of events. Konopka, after absorbing the hit from Arsene, hooked a Hershey player and was assessed a hooking penalty by referee, Jean Hebert, at 12:21.
Early in the power play, Keith Aucoin’s pass to Chris Bourque at the point got tangled in his skates and was swiped away by Brandon Segal. Segal, after pick pocketing Bourque, carried the puck into the Hershey zone on an odd man rush with Bracken Kearns. Kearns beat Neuvirth at close range, marking the sixth short handed goal, the first on home ice, that the Bears have allowed this season.
The Bears quickly regrouped and utilized the rest of their power play, when Andrew Gordon one-timed a pass from Perreault, which banked off Norfolk defenseman, Daryl Boyle, and behind McKenna, tying the game at two.
“If I had it to do over again, I probably would’ve stopped it, and I probably wouldn’t have scored,” said Gordon, who registered his first multi-goal game of the year.
So impressed by Gordon’s billiard-like abilities, Perreault cued a shot off of Norfolk defenseman, Kevin Quick, giving the Bears a “quick” second power play goal and a one goal lead at 1:54 of the second period.
“I saw Wilson in front all by himself,” said Perreault. “If it wouldn’t have hit the defenseman’s skate, it would have been right on Wilson’s stick.”
Nearing the end of the second period, Hershey’s Jay Beagle followed up on his linemates’ success by backhanding a bullet by McKenna at 16:16, to give his team a two goal cushion. Beagle, normally employed on the checking unit, was eager to change his role and become an offensive force for this game.
“When he told me today that I was kind of going to be taking Mink’s place on the power play in front, it was a boost of confidence. The more ice you get, the more your confidence goes up,” said Beagle, whose goal was his second of the season and first since November 2nd. “I knew he was going to go butterfly, and when I turned around, I saw where he was at and I tried to throw it shelf (top of the net), and sure enough, it went in.”
The Bears, despite having six power plays in the third period, did not score another goal, but only allowed Norfolk one full power play and managed outshoot the Admirals, 15-9, giving Neuvirth his fourth win of the season.
Gordon, named first star of the game for the third time this season due to his two-goal contribution to the Bears’ victory, expressed his relief to find the score sheet again after his lengthy absence.
“It felt like a thousand pounds off my shoulders. I feel like I’ve been playing well, I’ve been getting chances, but things just weren’t dropping for me.”