Bears/Wolf Pack AHL Preview

Hartford Wolf Pack (35-21-3-0, 73 points)
at
Hershey Bears (37-13-5-5, 84 points)

Television: B2Networks
Radio: Bears Network (100.1 FM, 1490-AM, 960-AM)
Gametime: 5:00 PM ET

As if the Bears needed any more offensive fire power following yesterday’s 7-1 drubbing of the Binghamton Senators, the team will welcome back their leading goal scorer Alexandre Giroux for their Sunday evening matchup with the Hartford Wolf Pack. He’ll return to Hershey in time for today’s game before rejoining the depleted Capitals lineup tomorrow. Depending on the severity of Kris Beech’s injury during yesterday’s blowout loss to the Islanders, Washington may need to recall some more help for when they travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs Tuesday night.

Hartford is coming off of a game yesterday at Philadelphia in which they outshot the Phantoms 42-20 but needed to rally from a 2-0 deficit and put up a good shootout performance in order to escape with the victory. Center Brandon Dubinsky lead their comeback as he tallied both goals in the second period, one on the power play and the other shorthanded. He also scored what ended up being the game winning goal in the shootout. The win was Hartford’s seventh straight, making them one of the hottest teams in the AHL.

While it will be hard to match the excitement of yesterday’s game given all the goals and physical play, the Wolf Pack’s recent play should be a precursor to a entertaining game. The Bears will no doubt be scoreboard watching as well as the division leading Norfolk Admirals head to Portland to take on the Pirates at 4:05 PM today. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, who is only two points behind Hershey, is off today.

Hershey Scores Come From Behind Win

Bears Net Last Two Goals of the Game to Edge Wolf Pack
Hershey Bears 2, Hartford Wolf Pack 1
Boxscore
(Photo Courtesy of JustSports Photography)

It was the first game of the second half of the season for both teams following the AHL All-Star break. Hershey entered the game having lost it's last two and three out of it's last five, while Hartford, on the other hand, entered the game as one of the hottest teams in the league, winning their last five and nine out of their last ten.

An evenly played first period got interesting as the intermission approached. With just two minutes left the Wolf Pack's Dwight Helminen took control of the puck behind the Bears net. After surveying the situation he stepped to the right side and found Craig Weller with a beautiful pass across the goal mouth that he deposited into the wide open net. The goal was the Wolf Pack captain's 7th of the season giving Hartford the 1-0 lead.

The tightly contested action continued into the second period until the Bears line of Klepis, Fleichmann, and Tenute had a dominating shift that resulted in some good scoring chances and led to a power play opportunity following a Ryan Callahan elbowing call. While the Wolf Pack would kill off the penalty it would only be a technicality as two seconds after Chad Wiseman secured the puck at the Bears blue line and found Alexandre Giroux streaking into the offense zone. The play resulted in a two on zero and an easy goal by Giroux tying the score at 1 and giving him 31 goals on the year, which moved him into third place in the AHL.

Hershey's Frederic Cassivi, who made his first start in goal since breaking his collarbone on December 20th, would make sure the score stayed that way heading into the second intermission as he robbed Hartford's Greg Moore on a breakaway with less than a minute to go.

The third period would see Hershey pull ahead for good. Tomas Fleichmann tapped home the rebound off of a Joey Tenute shot from the slot. It was his 18th goal of the season winger nicknamed "flash". Cassivi would make that goal stand as he was absolutely spectacular down the stretch showing no signs of rust following his extended time off. He ended the night with 37 saves while picking up his 13th win of the season.

Your 3 Stars of the Night:
1. Frederic Cassivi, Hershey 37 Saves
2. Tomas Fleichmann, Hershey GW Goal
3. Craig Weller, Hartford 1 goal

Game Notes:

It was an incredibly fast paced game as it only took 1 hour and 55 minutes to compete.... Bears' Goaltender Nolan Schaefer was recalled from his loan to the San Jose Sharks earlier in the day forcing Coach Bruce Boudreau to insert Cassivi back into the lineup earlier than he would have liked. Cassivi was backed up by Maxime Daigneault who is also just returning from an injury.... Darius Kasparaitis played in his 10th game of the season for Hartford. This is Kasparaitis' first time playing in the AHL as when he first came over to the US from Lithuania he went straight to the NHL.... Defenseman Donny Grover made his debut with Hershey after his recall from South Carolina yesterday.