Returning to the Great White North for the first time since October 29th, when they were white-washed 3-0 by the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Hershey Bears took a huge bite out of the Toronto Marlies on Saturday afternoon, walking away with a 6-1 victory at Ricoh Coliseum.
The Bears, after a scoreless first stanza, started quickly in the second period with rookie, Francois Bouchard, lighting the lamp at 1:57. Bouchard, a healthy scratch in three of the previous four games, registered his first goal since January 16th.
Tim Stapleton’s power play tally at 3:25, which beat Hershey goaltender, Simeon Varlamov, tied the game at one.
After Bouchard answered Stapleton’s strike with his second goal of the affair at 7:50, goals by veterans Keith Aucoin (power play) and Alexandre Giroux, within a span of 1:57 span, gave the Bears a 4-1 lead to take into the second intermission.
Keeping their foot on the accelerator in the third period, the Bears received rapid results again, with Giroux and Graham Mink (power play) managing to maneuver pucks behind Marlies’ goaltender, Adam Munro, within a span of 1:31 to finish out the scoring.
Varlamov, returning from a lengthy injury, and returning to the Hershey crease for the first time since January 14th, stopped 20 of 21 shots to collect his 17th win of the season.