Albany, NY- The Hershey Bears, after coughing up a two goal third period lead, and allowing a goal in the waning seconds of regulation, narrowly escaped the Times Union Center with two points, prevailing in a shootout over the Albany River Rats, 4-3.
Hershey coach Bob Woods, with his club coming off a disappointing 6-0 thumping at the hands of the Hamilton Bulldogs on Wednesday in Hamilton, opted to give the Kings Park, NY native, Bobby Goepfert, his first AHL start in net.
After Alexandre Giroux’s ninth goal of the season gave Hershey a 1-0 lead at 17:45 of the first period, Andrew Gordon, Goepfert’s college teammate at St. Cloud State, increased the lead to 2-0 at 13:48 of the second period with his sixth goal of the campaign.
Albany’s Jerome Samson’s power play goal at 18:26 of the second period ruined Goepfert’s hopes for a shutout, cutting the Hershey lead to 2-1. Samson’s goal, his first of the season, also came in his first action of the season.
Oskar Osala’s sixth goal of the season at 3:01 of the third period not only gave Hershey another two goal cushion at 3-1, it also sent out the message to Albany head coach Jeff Daniels’ team that it was gut check time.
Seven and a half minutes after the Osala goal, Albany alternate captain Pat Dwyer responded to the challenge, netting his second goal of the season at 11:31 to cut the Hershey lead to 3-2.
Entering the final minute of play, and with Albany enjoying a 6-on-4 manpower advantage, thanks to goalie Justin Peters going to the bench to provide his team with an extra attacker and Jay Beagle in the penalty box serving a penalty, Albany’s Bobby Hughes tied the game at 3-3 with less than one second remaining on the scoreboard clock.
After a scoreless and relatively quiet overtime session, which saw the teams combining for five shots on goal, the game headed to a shootout.
The shootout session proved to be “doubly dramatic”, after Goepfert and Peters each allowed a single goal in the first four rounds. Moving on to the fifth and final round, Goepfert repelled Pat Dwyer’s bid to give Albany an advantage, providing the first chapter to the tale.
Former River Rat Keith Aucoin, returning to Albany for the first time in a Bears jersey, provided part two of the storybook finish. Aucoin, shooting in the bottom of the round after Daniels elected to see his team start the shootout festivities, authoritatively beat Peters to allow Hershey to emerge victorious.
Although the term “sixty minute effort” is often uttered in pro hockey circles, sometimes excessively, you can bet the next time that Hershey head coach Bob Woods bellows that phrase, his charges will be listening intently.