Scott Gomez last dressed for the St. Louis Blues on December 27th to face the Dallas Stars. Three days later, the Blues waived his contract, a far cry from when he signed a seven-year, $51.5 million deal with the New York Rangers in 2007. The two-time Stanley Cup champion (2000 and 2003 with New Jersey) signed a professional tryout agreement with Hershey on Thursday to join the Hershey Bears roster in time for Friday’s rivalry contest with Lehigh Valley.
Before the game, Bears radio announcer Scott Stuccio made sure to tell fans that the rumors of Justin Peters seeking a trade are NOT true as was reported earlier in the week. During the game, Peters stopped 42 of 45 shots, including 26 in the third period alone, while the Bears won 4-3 over the Phantoms in Allentown. Chris Bourque added to his team points lead with his 17th goal of the season while Tyler Lewington (2nd), Liam O’Brien (2nd), and Dustin Gazley (8th) also scored. Gazley’s goal came on Hershey’s only shot on goal of the third period.
Gomez suited up in his home debut against the Springfield Falcons for a neck-and-neck contest. Riley Barber and Alex Grant (PP) traded tallies in the first; Barber (PP) and Greg Carey did the same in the second. Christian Thomas (PP) broke the pattern in the last two minutes of the second by beating Dan Ellis off a rebound. Bourque’s 18th on the year (PP) pushed the contest to overtime with the teams tied at 3 in goals while Springfield held a 34-32 shots on goal advantage. Ellis and Marek Langhamer traded sprawling saves to force a shootout where the first three rounds also saw no goals. Connor Carrick and Dustin Jeffery scored in the fourth and Christian Djoos beat Langhamer in the fifth round. Ellis stoned Domenic Monardo to finish the game with 33 saves in the 4-3 shootout win.
Goals from Dustin Gazley and Travis Boyd sandwiched tallies from Springfield’s Greg Carey and Alex Grant to push the rematch into yet another installment of 3-on-3 overtime. Jeffery found his way to the net once again as the Falcons exacted revenge on the Bears in a 3-2 overtime win. Peters finished with 22 saves while Niklas Treutle stopped 29 shots for the Falcons.
NEXT WEEK
It’s the same structure as last week’s games: Friday road trip followed by Saturday and Sunday at home. The Bears will stop in Binghamton on Friday night and come back home in time for tilts against Lehigh Valley and Bridgeport.
CURRENT STANDING
41 games played, 21-13-2-5 (W-L-OTL-SOL), 49 points, 3rd in Atlantic Division
