The Hershey Bears, playing in the building that will host the 2009 AHL All-Star Classic\u00a0later this month, notched their second consecutive road victory, sailing to a 7-2 over the Worcester Sharks on Sunday afternoon at DCU Center.<\/p>\n
Hershey\u2019s victory, their league-leading 26th<\/sup> of the season, guaranteed that head coach Bob Woods and assistant coach Mark French would be leading the Canadian contingent in the All-Star game on January 26th<\/sup>. <\/span>Washington Capitals head coach and former Bears coach, Bruce Boudreau, will be inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame during the All-Star festivities.<\/span><\/p>\n Alexandre Giroux, who led Hershey\u2019s offensive charge in Saturday\u2019s win in Hartford against the Wolfpack with a four-point effort (1 goal, 3 assists), topped that dominating performance in this encounter, registering a career high five points (4 goals, 1 assist).<\/span><\/p>\n Continuing a season long trend that has seen the Chocolate and White score ten goals within two and a half minutes of the opening faceoff, Giroux netted the first goal of the game only fifteen seconds into the contest. Giroux\u2019s goal, his 20th<\/sup> of the season, marked the 4th<\/sup> time in his AHL career that he has reached the 20-goal plateau.<\/span><\/p>\n Worcester\u2019s Lukas Kaspar\u2019s power play goal at 18:01, with Kip Brennan serving a minor penalty for roughing, tied the game at 1-1. Steven Zalewski and former Bear, Patrick Traverse, <\/span>assisted on Kaspar\u2019s goal, his eighth of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n Hershey defenseman Bryan Helmer\u2019s hooking penalty early in the second period gave Worcester a chance to build upon the momentum created by Kaspar\u2019s late first period goal. However, Helmer\u2019s penalty actually gave the Bears a much needed boost. <\/span><\/p>\n Helmer, after emerging from the penalty box at the conclusion of his sentence, was sprung on a breakaway by a pretty outlet pass from the Bears\u2019 defensive zone. Despite failing to convert the opportunity, the efforts of Hershey\u2019s captain did draw a hooking penalty on Worcester\u2019s Claude Lemieux at 3:50.<\/span><\/p>\n Keith Aucoin, who scored the Bears\u2019 first goal on Friday night in Hartford, made Lemieux pay for his transgression when he redirected a Chris Bourque point shot into the net at 4:25 to give the Bears a 2-1 lead. Aucoin\u2019s power play marker, his sixth of the season, was the first one registered away from the friendly confines of Giant Center.<\/span><\/p>\n Moments after a bid by Kaspar to tie the game at 2-2 struck iron, but not paydirt, Giroux lit the lamp at 7:50 to give Hershey a 3-1 lead. Giroux\u2019s goal was assited by Aucoin and Hershey netminder, Simeon Varlamov, who collected his second assist of the season. Both of Varlamov\u2019s assists have been of the game-winning variety.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n With both teams skating at four a side<\/span>, the Sharks\u2019 Ryan Vesce beat Hershey goalkeeper Simeon Varlamov at 11:16 to procure his 12th<\/sup> goal of the season, narrowing Worcester\u2019s deficit to 3-2.<\/span><\/p>\n Steve Pinizzotto, who had just one AHL\u00a0in 42 AHL games prior to the Bears embarking on this current five game road swing, struck for the third times in as many games at 15:09 to give Hershey another two-goal lead at 4-2.<\/span><\/p>\n