The Hershey Bears entered Friday night\u2019s matchup against the Adirondack Phantoms seeking their 50th win of the season, and after a seesaw battle, the boys from Chocolatetown escaped from Glens Falls with a 5-4 overtime win.<\/p>\n
The Phantoms, the only team in the AHL that can boast of placing three blemishes on the Bears\u2019 record, gave the visitors all that they could handle in the oscillating affair, twice grabbing one-goal leads after falling behind early in the contest.<\/p>\n
The Bears took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Jay Beagle at 4:34. Beagle pounced upon the rebound of a Mathieu Perreault point blank attempt, and poked the puck behind Phantoms\u2019 netminder, Johan Backlund, to pot his 11th goal of the season.<\/p>\n
Less than two minutes after Beagle\u2019s goal, an outstanding individual effort by Alexandre Giroux led to his 34th marker of the campaign, an unassisted tally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was coming from the bench and the guy bobbled,\u201d Giroux said. \u201cThe guy in the zone was standing still, so I tried to make a move on him. Then, I didn\u2019t have enough speed to go around the defenseman, so I stopped and took a shot between his legs. I don\u2019t think the goalie saw it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greg Amadio\u2019s cross checking infraction at 9:50 put the Phantoms on their first power play, and ultimately put them on the board for the first time, with defenseman, Marc-Andre Bourdon, lighting the lamp at 11:32.<\/p>\n
Steve Pinizzotto\u2019s punishing hit on Bourdon behind the Phantoms\u2019 net, which put Bourdon on his back, resulted in his defensive partner, Sean Curry, taking a double minor penalty on Pinizzotto at 16:02. <\/p>\n
Curry\u2019s aggressive actions gave the Bears a golden opportunity to finish out the period on a positive note by potting a power play goal, but Adirondack\u2019s penalty killing unit thwarted those plans and the teams retreated to the locker room after twenty minutes with the Bears leading, 2-1.<\/p>\n
The second period belonged solely to the Phantoms, who netted the only two goals of the frame, including a soft goal that went in off of the back of Bears\u2019 netminder, Michal Neuvirth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we played well in the first, and came into the locker room with the 2-1 lead,\u201d said Bears\u2019 head coach, Mark French. \u201cI thought in the second, we were dominated physically, and lost a lot of battles and races to the puck.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the forgetful second period, the Bears did not officially test Backlund for the first time until 10:25 into the frame. In all, the high-powered Bears\u2019 offense put just three shots on net in the period, with Andrew Gordon garnering the only shot on net by a forward.<\/p>\n
Early in the third period, Hershey captain, Bryan Helmer, was whistled off by referee, Jamie Koharski, for a cross-checking penalty on Phantoms\u2019 forward, Stefan Legein. After realizing that he was being penalized, Helmer blew a fuse and drew an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty as well as ten-minute misconduct.<\/p>\n
\u201cSure, the guy embellished it,\u201d said Helmer. \u201cHe got in my way when I had a chance to get the puck out of the zone, and then they got a great scoring chance because of that. I just lost my cool, and I shouldn\u2019t have done that, but that\u2019s the stuff you learn by.\u201d <\/p>\n
With Helmer in the penalty box, Steve Pinizzotto struck with in shorthanded mode, netting his 11th goal of the season, and fourth in short-handed style.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tried to dump it in, and they missed the puck,\u201d Pinizzotto said. \u201cWellar made it a good play by throwing it up to Joudrey, who dove and sent me in on the breakaway, and I beat him low to the glove side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pinizzotto, who of late seems to be able to draw the wrath of his opponents even quicker while sporting the protective cage apparatus that he wears after being injured in a scrap against Albany, wishes he could drop the mitts, but has found another way to contribute by putting up consistent offensive numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt sucks that I can\u2019t fight, particularly against team like this who want to put on a show for their fans,\u201d Pinizzotto admitted. \u201cThe points are starting to come now, which is good, and I feel that I can do a lot to help this team out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ironically, just as Helmer\u2019s first penalty was about to expire, Legein struck on the power to give the Phantoms another one-goal lead. <\/p>\n
Amadio, making amends for his earlier actions, drew an interference penalty on Phantoms\u2019 defenseman, Joey Mormina, at 10:37. <\/p>\n
While Mormina waited out his sentence, Giroux struck again on the power play at 11:58 to tie up the affair. For Giroux, the multi-goal effort was his second in his last two games played in Glens Falls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what we have to do when we come here. It\u2019s always a battle and these guys always play really, really hard, and they are particularly intense against our line,\u201d said Giroux.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought all night we moved the puck well, but didn\u2019t shoot enough. Then we were shooting and they were blocking the shots and getting in the lanes; but, on my goal, Miskovic made a great play to Aucoin and he did what he always does, finds me in an open spot.\u201d <\/p>\n
Giroux\u2019s goal would be the last of regulation and the teams needed extra time to settle the score in the topsy-turvy battle.<\/p>\n
Justice was served for the visitors from the Keystone State when Helmer roofed a wrist shot over the fallen Backlund just 1:33 into the session, giving the Bears their 22nd road triumph of the season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the guys played really well in the third period, responding from a bad second period,\u201d said Helmer, who watched the majority of the third period from the penalty box. <\/p>\n
\u201cBourque and Pinizzotto made the play on the overtime goal, and I actually had two chances. The first one I put right in his pads, but I got a second chance, and put it in the net. It\u2019s nice when you can come back and chip in like that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"