With some stellar effort from several New England boys, the Hershey Bears finished the weekend on a strong note when they defeated the Providence Bruins, 6-4, at Giant Center on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
Providence goaltender, Tuukka Rask, known as one of the premier goaltenders in the AHL, was under siege from the opening faceoff, and stopped the first six shots, including Graham Mink\u2019s bid just 50 seconds into the game. Mink\u2019s shot at 4:01, proved to be lucky number seven when gently guided Keith Aucoin\u2019s pass into an unguarded net, giving the Bears an early 1-0 lead. Former Bruin, Aucoin, a native of Waltham, Massachusetts and the league\u2019s top scorer, added two assists to his resume tonight.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a great goaltender, he\u2019s very good laterally and he covers well above his pads where a lot of goalies sometimes have trouble,\u201d said Mink, a native of Stowe, Vermont. \u201cI think he made a lot of great saves on a lot of guys tonight, but when you\u2019ve got a great passer like Aucoin on your line, it\u2019s hard for him to stop them all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bruins\u2019 Mikko Lehtonen tied up the game at 8:32 after depositing his own rebound behind Hershey netminder, Daren Machesney.<\/p>\n
With Providence on a power play early in the second period, Vladimir Sobotka took a five minute major penalty for boarding Hershey defenseman, Karl Alzner. As a result of the collision, Alzner suffered a cut under his eye, but remained in the game and played a major role in his team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a pretty big chin and a decently tough jaw,\u201d Alzner joked. \u201dI didn\u2019t think I was in a vulnerable position so I have no fault for that, but at the same time, you don\u2019t expect to be hit like that. There\u2019s a few guys in the league that probably will, but I didn\u2019t expect it and it did stun me, but it\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the resulting 4-on-4 situation, Zach Hamill beat Machesney on a breakaway after blocking Bears\u2019 Kyle Wilson\u2019s point attempt from the Hershey blue line to make it a 2-1 game.<\/p>\n
Chris Bourque, born in Boston during his father, Ray Bourque\u2019s illustrious career, tied the game at two at 14:16.<\/p>\n
Only 19 ticks later, Hershey\u2019s Alexandre Giroux, denied by Rask twice earlier in the period, finally found a chink in Rask\u2019s armor when he found success with his fade away slapshot, to knot the score once again.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did the same play two shifts before, but Lepisto passed to Aucoin instead of me, so this time I thought I\u2019d try the other side and I called for it,\u201d said Giroux, the AHL\u2019s leading goal scorer. \u201cI was drifting and just tried to put the puck on net and I was lucky enough it went by him.\u201d<\/p>\n
A mere minute-and-a-half after his first goal, Giroux doubled his pleasure with another tally, scoring his 43rd of the season, which was assisted by Mink and Tyler Sloan, to put Hershey up, 4-2.<\/p>\n
Former Bear, Johnny Boychuk, the AHL\u2019s top goal scoring defenseman, added to his 15 goal total, by blasting a power play goal through Hershey\u2019s defense and into the back of the net. Boychuk\u2019s total of 16 goals is only three less than the combined total of the ten defenseman on the Bear\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n
Alzner\u2019s third goal of the season, threaded between a pair of Providence defenders, halted the Bruins\u2019momentum and gave his team back a more comfortable two-goal cushion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew there were a lot of guys in front, so I just really tried to get it on net,\u201d said Alzner. \u201cPerreault said he didn\u2019t think I was going to shoot it because he passed a little far behind me, but I find I shoot the best one-timers when it\u2019s off my back foot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bourque\u2019s second goal of the game and Jeremy Reich\u2019s 6-on-3 power play goal, with 23 seconds left, finished off the scoring. The Bears finished off a tough 4-in-5 sequence, garnering six of a possible eight points, clinging to a four-point lead over the second place Bridgeport Sound Tigers.<\/p>\n
Mink, one of Hershey\u2019s alternate captains, was not surprised that his team was able to finish the stretch so strongly after stumbling earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like we\u2019ve been playing some good hockey for the last couple weeks now, and it hasn\u2019t necessarily been translated. It seems like we\u2019re starting to get on a roll now and hopefully we can continue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"