Phantoms Fall To Hershey

HERSHEY, PA - The Hershey Bears scored three power play goals en route to a 5-1 win over the Phantoms in an early Saturday evening contest at the GIANT Center on New Year's Eve.

Hershey opened the scoring on its initial power play opportunity at 5:57 of the first frame. Colin Forbes was on the doorstep to knock home the rebound of a shot by Mike Green.

The Bears picked up their second goal just 38 seconds later when Jared Aulin, standing in the right corner, snapped a long-distance pass to Mark Watton at the top of the left circle. Watton blasted it past Martin Houle at 6:35. Houle was replaced by Rejean Beauchemin at that point after stopping six of the eight shots he saw.

Philadelphia scored late in the frame, capitalizing on a power play at 17:08. Brent Kelly threw a puck towards the net from the left boards. Frederic Cassivi mishandled the puck, allowing Stefan Ruzicka to sweep it home and make it a 2-1 game.

But Hershey pushed their lead to 3-1 at 3:58 of the second period. Eric Fehr scored his team-leading 15th goal of the season, receiving assists from Colin Forbes and Boyd Gordon.

Hershey's fourth goal came on the power play at 9:45 of the second period. A drive from the point went wide past the right post. When Beauchemin turned to find the rebound, he found nothing but Tomas Fleischmann, who had just tossed the puck back out in front to Joey Tenute on the left side of the net. Tenute put the puck into a virtually empty cage for a 4-1 lead.

The Bears struck again on the power play at 17:04 of the third. Joey Tenute had the puck on the right wall and noticed Mark Wotton pinching in from the left point. Tenute whipped it through the slot, and Wotton redirected it home to close out the scoring.

Beauchemin stopped 18 of 21 shots in his relief effort, while Cassivi stopped 21 of 22 Phantoms opportunities. Hershey was granted 13 power play opportunities, capitalizing on three of them. Philadelphia has now faced 31 Hershey power plays in the last two games between the teams.