Hershey Bears

Hershey Humiliates Toronto in 8-2 Whooping

(via the AHL)

In a series that was supposed to be long and memorable, it will definitely be memorable. “Long” would take quite the miracle. The Hershey Bears scored seven unanswered goals in the second and third periods to push the Toronto Marlies to the brink of elimination with an 8-2 final score.

Justin Peters finished his light night of work with 25 saves on 27 shots, stopping all 16 shots over the last 40 minutes of play. Antoine Bibeau was yanked from the crease after 18 seconds of play in the third period, finishing with 15 saves on 19 shots. Garret Sparks, his replacement, did not fare any better, allowing the first shot he faced to go through. Sparks finished the game to sarcastic cheers from the few leftover fans at Ricoh Coliseum after allowing four goals on nine shots.

For the first forty minutes, the Bears and Marlies looked destined for another close game. After Dustin Gazley tucked in a rebound off an Aaron Ness shot from center point, the Marlies scored twice to lead the game thanks to Josh Leivo and Colin Smith. That would do it for the Marlies scorers despite six power plays.

With a secondary assist on Gazley’s goal, Carter Camper’s point-scoring streak extended to nine games in a row.

For the second period, Chris Bourque reasserted himself as the AHL MVP. Madison Bowey found him behind the defense, and Bourque’s shot blew by Bibeau’s five hole. Zach Sill deposited an Erik Burgdoefer rebound to grant the Bears another one-goal advantage heading to the third period.

After Ness briefly exited the game, he returned for the last shift at the the end of the second. After losing his helmet, he did not immediately go to the bench or attempt to put the helmet back on. The result was a minor penalty set to begin with the third period.

That turned out to be the best thing that could’ve ever happened for the Bears. Sill intercepted a D-to-D pass to streak in for an unassisted shorthanded tally, chasing Bibeau from the crease. On the same penalty kill, Ryan Bourque forced a turnover and streaked down the opposite side of Sill’s goal to beat Sparks on the first shot he faced.

Ness made an instinctive swat at a puck right on the line to keep the Hershey attack alive at the five minute mark of the period. The puck came right to C. Bourque, who made certain to get it to Travis Boyd. Boyd dropped it for Jakub Vrana, who floated a shot between Sparks’ glove arm and his body for his sixth of the playoffs and sixth Bears goal of the game. The assist gave Chris Bourque (74 points) sole possession of first place on the franchise playoff point list, passing Mike Nykoluk.

The Marlies continued to spiral out of control, allowing a poke-in goal from Christian Djoos on the power play 59 seconds after the Vrana goal. Then, Kasperi Kapanen fell down and gave the puck away to Vrana, who deposited the breakaway chance through the five-hole.

In the time after Hershey’s eighth goal, in order, Liam O’Brien, Chris Bourque,  Sill, Sam Carrick, and Rich Clune were sent off to the showers early. The humiliation mercilessly ended with the final horn, sending the Bears back to the team hotel with a 3-0 series lead, one win away from the Calder Cup Final.

Max Wolpoff

Churchill High School graduate (2015) and current Boston University journalism student. Follow me on Twitter (@Max_Wolpoff) for game-day tweets or my random musings about being a college student.

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