BEARS BLITZ RATS

The Hershey Bears continued their record-setting ways on home ice on Friday night at Giant Center, racing by the Albany River Rats with six unanswered goals to cruise to their 24th consecutive home ice victory by a score of 8-2.

The Bears displayed their offensive balance with seven different players finding the back of the net, and by scoring eight goals in the game, which was the 9th time this season they have accomplished that feat.

The first 13 minutes of the game were relatively quiet because of neither team generating much offense, with only a subplot being newsworthy. The sideshow involved former Bear, Oskar Osala, taking a run at new Bears’ defenseman, Grant Lewis, and then being pursued and checked by Andrew Gordon.

“My first reaction was one of the guys on our team got hit, and it’s one of the new guys, so I wanted to let him know that we were going to back him up,” said Gordon. “I know he’s only been here a couple days, but at the same time, he’s on the team, and we’re going to stick up for him like anybody else. When I saw it was Oskar, I wasn’t going to do anything crazy. I know he’s not out there trying to hurt guys.”

The Bears lit the lamp for the first time of many when Chris Bourque buzzed a running wrist shot by the glove of Albany netminder, Mike Morrison, at 13:18.

Former Bears defenseman, Jonathan Paiement, authored Albany’s first goal of the game and tied the contest at one when he beat starting Bears netminder, Michal Neuvirth, with a blueline blast at 15:01.

Andrew Gordon, the Bears workaholic winger who is having a career year in the goal scoring department, added his 32nd goal of the season with only 42 seconds remaining in the first period.

“I was trying to slide it doing to Aucoin and do a little give and go, but I sort of fanned on it and the puck bobbled,” said Gordon, who has scored in five of the last six home outings. “Once I bobbled it, the D bit down towards Aucoin which opened me up. It was an accidental bobble that turned out in my favor. Hard work pays off, I guess.”

Neuvirth, the second year pro from the Czech Republic who was pulled in his last start in Worcester on Sunday after allowing five goals on twenty-one shots before being replaced, was replaced once again by Braden Holtby when the teams returned to the ice to start the second period, departing the contest with a lower body injury.

“I actually found out I was going in with about a minute left in the first,” Holtby said. “I had no idea what was going on. Alzner nudged me and told me that I was going in. I was wondering why because he had only given up one goal, but I think it was his knee again. It’s unfortunate for him, but as a backup, I had to be prepared for that. I was lucky the guys played an outstanding game after I came in.”

Paiement again dialed long distance and found another connection early in the second period at 4:42, beating Holtby for at 4:42 with Albany on the power play. With the two goals on the evening, Paiement now counts four goals to his credit this campaign, with three of those being struck at Giant Center against the Bears.

“It went through so many legs, and I have no idea how it got through. It’s just one of those seeing-eye shots you can’t do anything about,” said Holtby of the only goal he allowed on the evening.

Hershey regained the lead for good less than a minute after Paiement’s game-tying goal when Keith Aucoin batted an airborne Alexandre Giroux pass behind Morrison at 5:30.

“I knew Giroux was going to pass it to me, and it kind of rolled on him,” Aucoin said. “I got lucky because the puck was wobbling, and I was able to get my stick on it and it went in.”

Exactly one minute after Gordon’s goal that was disallowed because of the puck being kicked into the net, Michael Dubuc’s fifth goal of the season, and second in his last three games, finished off the scoring in the second period and gave the home team a 4-2 lead entering the third period.

Boyd Kane and Alexandre Giroux each added a goal to the Bears’ total in the third period before fisticuffs became the story and the focal point of the festivities. The first bout of the third period fight card began when Francois Bouchard and Drayson Bowman squared off in a middle-weight tilt.

“It goes back to the last game when we played them and he jabbed me, so I just wanted to go back and show him if he did that kind of stuff, we would have a good fight,” said Bouchard. “I won it clean with him and I was really pumped. It was the first fight in my career. I just got caught up in the moment at the end.”

Less than a minute later when Nicolas Blanchard hit Kyle Wilson from behind, chaos ensued when a pair of secondary fights broke out. When the dust has settled, both the Bears involved in those battles, Boyd Kane and Patrick Wellar, along with their River Rat counterparts, were issued game misconducts.

When play finally resumed, Keith Aucoin and newcomer, Ashton Rome, put the exclamation points on the Bears’ goal total.

“I got a few shots, some good shots, and I think I was just due,” said Rome who rang a shot off the post in the first period. “It felt pretty good. I kind of fanned on it, but I put it on the side I wanted to.”

B-I-N-G-O, BEARS FINALLY CLINCH TITLE

The Hershey Bears, coming off of one of their worst losses of the season, took to the road and responded in fine fashion on Wednesday night against the Binghamton Senators, sinking the Sens 5-3 and clinching the Eastern Division title in the process.

With the win, the Bears upped their AHL league-leading total to 105 points, nine more than their closest competitors, the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Bears and Bulldogs each have thirteen games remaining on their respective schedules, but the Hamiltonians have just four more home dates at Copps Colisem while the Bears have seven games remaining on their Giant Center slate.

The Bears jumped out to an early lead on Sean Collins’ first goal of the season, only 1:45 into the contest. Collins’ goal was only the second of his AHL career, with his only prior tally coming over a year ago on March 8, 2009, at Lake Erie.

Kyle Wilson, who has made a habit of stinging the Senators in his tenure in Chocolatetown, sacked the second goal of the game at 9:32 by converting the rebound of Michael Dubuc’s shot to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.

Still in the first period, Senators’ winger and former NHL 50-goal scorer, Jonathan Cheechoo, sliced into the Bears lead at 14:17, ridding himself of the check of Hershey captain, Bryan Helmer, before roofing a shot by Hershey netminder, Braden Holtby.

With Hershey on an early second period power play, Wilson collected his second goal of the game 1:58 into the session, canning his 22nd tally of the season and fifth on the power play. Wilson’s two-goal outing was his fifth career multi-goal effort against the B-Sens, and fourth at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

It looked like the rout was on for the Bears just prior to the halfway point of the game when Andrew Joudrey wristed a shot by Binghamton netminder, Chris Holt, 9:59 into the second period to give the Bears a 4-1 lead.

However, the boys from Binghamton, still clinging to their faint playoff hopes, closed the Bears’ bulge late in the stanza with goals from Geoff Kinrade (shorthanded) and Kaspars Daugavins, making it a one-goal game entering the third period.

Before the third period, the Bears penalty-killing unit, ranked top in the league, had not faced a single Senators’ power play opportunity. However, they showed their mettle in shutting down three B-Sens manpower advantages before Andrew Joudrey’s empty net, short-handed goal sealed the deal at 18:59, giving the Bears the 5-3 win.

Holtby, the fine rookie backstopper who faced down 44 shots, the most shots he has ever faced in a game while tending the twine for the Bears, earned his 20th win by collecting 41 saves.

SHARKS MUNCH ON BEARS

Sunday afternoon’s meeting at the DCU Center between the respective divisional leaders in the AHL’s Eastern Conference, the Hershey Bears and Worcester Sharks, was billed as a “Battle of the Titans”; however, the contest ended up being a titanic mismatch, as the Sharks swam circles around the Bears and departed the affair with a convincing 6-2 win.

The Bears, finishing up a three game in three nights road swing that started in Adirondack on Friday night, followed by Springfield last night, were never able to sustain an attack against the Sharks’ defense and goaltender, Alex Stalock, who leads the AHL in wins, until the final minutes of the game when the outcome had been settled long before.

The Sharks controlled the play from the opening faceoff by depositing a pair of goals off the sticks of Derek Joslin and John McCarthy past Hershey starting goaltender, Michal Neuvirth, to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

Hershey’s high scoring offensive line of Alexandre Giroux, Andrew Gordon and Keith Aucoin, along with the defensive pairing of Patrick Wellar and Zach Miskovic, were on the ice for both first period strikes against. Miskovic, the Bears’ rookie out of St. Lawrence University, bobbled a puck at his own blueline that led to the Joslin goal and allowed McCarthy to skate around him on the second goal.

After the game, when questioned about Miskovic’s play on both goals, Bears head coach, Mark French, chose not to single out Miskovic’s individual efforts, but lay the blame on the play of the whole team.

“We didn’t have a good period as a team. I’m not going to single out anybody,” he said.

The Sharks relentless attack continued in the second period when they added three goals off the sticks of Mike Moore (penalty shot), Brandon Mashinter and Andrew Desjardins to take a 5-0 lead.

Desjardins’ goal spelled the end of the night for Neuvirth, who departed after allowing five goals on 21 shots in 33:58 of action.

“I thought it was an opportunity; he faced his fair share of shots,” French said of his decision to pull Neuvirth.

Goals by the Bears’ Michal Dubuc and Chris Bourque late in the third period cut the Sharks lead to 5-2, but Desjardins’ second goal of the game sealed the deal for the Sharks.

French, whose club still sits comfortably atop the AHL standings in spite of the loss on Sunday, had a short answer when asked to “put in perspective” occasional lopsided losses like Sunday’s and if they are to be expected.

“What do we have, 103 points? I think you answered your own question,” said French.

If there is a silver lining in the Bears’ failure to clinch the division title because of the setback, it’s that they get a chance to do it on Friday night on home ice against the Albany River Rats, their closest pursuers.

“It will be a good game; Albany is a good team,” French commented.

FALCONS FLY BY BEARS IN SHOOTOUT

A night after they bounced back twice from one-goal deficits to secure an overtime victory in Adirondack, the Hershey Bears could not overcome a pair of two-goal deficits in Springfield against the Falcons, falling in a shootout, 5-4.

The Falcons, cellar dwellers in the AHL’s Atlantic Division, also triumphed over the Bears in shootout fashion in the previous meeting between the teams this season on November 21 at Giant Center.

Things started well for the visitors when they jumped out to an early 1-0 first period lead at 2:12 on Alexandre Giroux’s 36th goal of the season. Giroux, the AHL’s leading goal scorer was left totally alone to the left of Springfield backstopper, J.P. Levasseur, and wasted no time rifling a shot past him after receiving a beautiful pass from defenseman, Dylan Yeo, who registered his first point of the season with the helper.

Shortly after Giroux’s marker, the Falcons tied the game at one when Charles Linglet lit the lamp for the 19th time this season, beating Bryan Helmer to a rebound of his own shot and then thumping Bears’ goaltender, Braden Holtby at 4:43.

Former Bears’ defenseman, Dean Arsene, who left the Bears den over the summer and is now firmly entrenched in the Falcons’ nest, gave the home team their first lead of the game at 5:22 of the first frame. After gathering in the puck along the left wing boards in the Bears’ zone, Arsene proceeded to launch an innocent looking wrist shot in the direction of the net. Fortunately for the Bears, Keith Aucoin was on the spot of the Arsene shot, but unfortunately, he redirected the puck behind Holtby.

“My defensive partner shot it around the boards, and I saw it was coming off the boards with a lot of spin. I was thinking that if I tried to handle it, I might lose it, so I just tried to throw it on net, because I knew we had guys in the crease area. I saw it goes off Aucoin’s stick and between Holtby’s legs and I was pretty happy,” said the former “mayor” of Hershey.

Arsene’s goal was his first of the season, and he admitted afterwards that it was a tad bittersweet to get his first against his former mates from Chocolatetown.

“I was shocked initially, and thought, ‘oh my goodness, I scored’. I’m not going to lie and say that scoring a goal against my former team wasn’t special, but any time I get a goal is special,” Arsene said.

Still in the first period, Hershey’s Chris Bourque, whose father, NHL hall-of-famer, Ray Bourque, was in attendance at the game, put the Bears in a bind. Bourque, after being signaled for a hooking call by referee, Chris Brown, took exception to the call and earned an additional unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty for his complaining.

Bourque’s blunder was then followed by a minor penalty to Steve Pinizzotto, which created a 5-on-3 power play for the Falcons and eventually evolved into a 5-on-3 power play goal off the stick of former Bear, Chad Wiseman. Wiseman’s goal was assisted by another former Bear, Chris Armstrong.

“The first goal is the one that I really wanted back; it was a rebound that I got twisted up on,” said Holtby. “The second goal went off of my own guy, and the third goal was a cross-up by everyone on the ice. I was looking the wrong way, the way I though the guys would be, and the guys thought they had to be somewhere else."

Bears’ head coach, Mark French, had thoughts of removing his rookie netmider in the first intermission, but due to a couple of factors, opted to let him try to finish what he started.

“To be honest, me and Troy (Bears assistant coach, Troy Mann) talked about it, but we wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt and I thought he responded quite well,” said French. “We looked at the goals and we also looked at what we wanted to do tomorrow as well” (start Michal Neuvirth in Worcester).

“I don’t think he had much of a chance on the first one, and the second goal went it off of Coiner’s stick; but the third goal, I didn’t think it was a great shot that beat him. He didn’t seem to move when the pass was made to the wide guy (Wiseman), and he said that he couldn’t see the puck. I thought that he would have reacted to pass, he probably would have been over.”

French also said that the fact that the Bears did not get another shot on goal in the first period after the Giroux goal and finishing the period being outshot 16-2 did not factor into his decision to let Holtby remain between the pipes.

“We were only down by two goals at that point and were starting the next period on the power play, and if we got one on that, it would be a different hockey game,” French said.

Early in the second period, a controversial major penalty assessed to Springfield’s Ryan MacMurchy for boarding Yeo at 1:46 gave the Bears a five minute power play. Referee, Chris Brown, did not initially make the call on MacMurchy, but after Yeo remained on the ice after the collision, he doled out the major infraction.

The Bears were able to cash in once on the MacMurchy major penalty when Andrew Gordon finished up a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing sequence that started with Giorux and then progressed to Bouchard, who found Gordon all alone on the doorstep for his 31st goal of the campaign at 3:48.

With the Falcons on another power play in the latter stages of the second period, they received a fortunate bounce when Helmer’s attempt rim the puck around the boards behind his own net caromed off of the net and then onto the stick of Linglet, who found Wiseman cruising down the slot, for his second goal of the evening at 15:06.

With the second stanza winding down, Bears defenseman, Patrick Wellar connected with the stick of Aucoin in the neutral zone, and sent the speedy centerman in alone on Levasseur. Aucoin froze the Springfield stopper by faking a slapshot, and then took a few more strides before blasting a shot by him low to the glove side at 17:43.

“I looked up and saw it was a left-handed goalie, so that look reminded me of that. Then I saw he gave that little opening and I used it to my advantage,” said Aucoin.

Steve Pinizzotto who netted a shorthanded goal in Friday night’s game, potted the only goal of third period, sizzling a short-side shot by Levasseur at 7:30.

“Collins made a nice play there on the wall by chipping it up and sending me and Joudrey on a 2-on-1. I turned a little and tried to make it look like I was going to pass, and then just shot it on net,” said Pinizzotto.

Following a scoreless final twelve and a half minutes of third period play, the game went into overtime with the teams skating at three aside thanks to each club having a player in the penalty box serving a minor penalty.

Springfileld’s Rob Hisey, who scored the eventual shootout winning goal, had the best chance of the overtime, but was narrowly halted by Holtby in his wraparound attempt.

“I tried to play him as aggressively as I could when he was in front because he made a few nice plays to get loose, and was by himself in front. When he went behind the net, I tried to get a stick on his to throw him off. Then he threw it out front and it went off Aucoin’s skate; fortunately I was able to get it before it went in,” said Holtby.

French, whose team continues to pace the AHL with 103 points, was very frank after game when asked if he could be satisfied that his team managed to escape Springfield with one point.

“I think we were relatively embarrassing in the first period, and you have to play 60 minutes to earn a victory. So, I’m disappointed in getting only the one point.”

BEARS WORK OVERTIME TO REACH MILESTONE

The Hershey Bears entered Friday night’s 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.

The Phantoms, the only team in the AHL that can boast of placing three blemishes on the Bears’ 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.

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’ netminder, Johan Backlund, to pot his 11th goal of the season.

Less than two minutes after Beagle’s goal, an outstanding individual effort by Alexandre Giroux led to his 34th marker of the campaign, an unassisted tally.

“I was coming from the bench and the guy bobbled it,” Giroux said. “The guy in the zone was standing still, so I tried to make a move on him. Then, I didn’t have enough speed to go around the defenseman, so I stopped and took a shot between his legs. I don’t think the goalie saw it.”

Greg Amadio’s 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.

Steve Pinizzotto’s punishing hit on Bourdon behind the Phantoms’ net, which put Bourdon on his back, resulted in his defensive partner, Sean Curry, taking a double minor penalty on Pinizzotto at 16:02.

Curry’s 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’s penalty killing unit thwarted those plans and the teams retreated to the locker room after twenty minutes with the Bears leading, 2-1.

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’ netminder, Michal Neuvirth.

“I thought we played well in the first, and came into the locker room with the 2-1 lead,” said Bears’ head coach, Mark French. “I thought in the second, we were dominated physically, and lost a lot of battles and races to the puck.”

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’ offense put just three shots on net in the period, with Andrew Gordon garnering the only shot on net by a forward.

Early in the third period, Hershey captain, Bryan Helmer, was whistled off by referee, Jamie Koharski, for a cross-checking penalty on Phantoms’ 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.

“Sure, the guy embellished it,” said Helmer. “He 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’t have done that, but that’s the stuff you learn by.”

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.

“They tried to dump it in, and they missed the puck,” Pinizzotto said. “Wellar 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.”

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.

“It sucks that I can’t fight, particularly against team like this who want to put on a show for their fans,” Pinizzotto admitted. “The points are starting to come now, which is good, and I feel that I can do a lot to help this team out.”

Ironically, just as Helmer’s first penalty was about to expire, Legein struck on the power to give the Phantoms another one-goal lead.

Amadio, making amends for his earlier actions, drew an interference penalty on Phantoms’ defenseman, Joey Mormina, at 10:37.

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.

“We know what we have to do when we come here. It’s always a battle and these guys always play really, really hard, and they are particularly intense against our line,” said Giroux.

“I thought all night we moved the puck well, but didn’t 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.”

Giroux’s goal would be the last of regulation and the teams needed extra time to settle the score in the topsy-turvy battle.

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.

“I thought the guys played really well in the third period, responding from a bad second period,” said Helmer, who watched the majority of the third period from the penalty box.

“Bourque 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’s nice when you can come back and chip in like that.”

BEARS FOIL PHANTOMS

Trailing for the first time at home during their record-tying 22 home winning streak, it looked like the Hershey Bears might have to reset the clock and start another home run because of the relentless Adirondack Phantoms; however, buoyed by a pair of goals by former Phantom, Boyd Kane, the Bears extended their streak to a record-breaking 23 home wins.

“We really came out hard in the third. Going into the third, we weren’t happy because we hadn’t played a good game. We wanted to break the record, and we knew what was on the line,” said Bears’ center, Keith Aucoin.

Kane initiated the scoring at 16:10 of the first period denting the twine for the 20th time this season.

“I gave it to Bourque up high and he went down low and made a great pass to me,” said Kane, who has reached the 20-goal mark twice in his career, both times with the Bears. “I was all alone in the slot and I was able to put it far side.”

Adirondack’s Andreas Nodl knotted the score at one by fending off defenseman, Karl Alzner, and then beating Bears’ goaltender, Michal Neuvirth through the five-hole at 18:24.

Rob Bellamy gave the Phantoms a 2-1 lead 6:11 into the second period by taking advantage of Neuvirth turning the puck over in the trapezoid behind the net and banking the puck off the glove and body of the second year netminder.

The Bears opened the third period on a power play and seemingly tied the game when Chris Bourque’s bullet appeared to bounce quickly in and out of the net. Though the goal light went on, the goal was waived off and play continued. Shortly after the controversial shot, Zach Miskovic’s missile from the point eluded Phantoms’ netminder, Johan Backlund, and officially tied the game at two.

At 6:25 of the final frame, Aucoin, thanks to a solid screen provided by Kane, put the home team in front for the second time.

“My job on the power play is to go stand in front of the net and screen the goalie,” Kane said. “That’s what I was doing, and Aucoin was actually trying to pass it to me and it just went through me and Mormina and got through the goalie, too.”

Hershey head coach, Mark French, who was not with the organization when Kane captained the club to the Calder Cup in 2006, realizes what Kane’s presence means to the team.

“He’s every bit a professional,” said French. “He’s a great asset in our dressing room, and a workman’s type player. You appreciate his work ethic. He shows up every day with his lunch box and his work shoes and he goes to work. I think everybody can appreciate the type of player he is. He’s very versatile, as you mentioned. He can step up and play, as he did at times this year, on our top line, or he could play on your third-line checking line and do each equally as well.”

Kane capped off the scoring with an empty net goal at 19:40, establishing a new career-high goal total of 21.

“It’s nice. When you come so close and don’t get there, you want to get there,” said Kane of breaking the 20-goal barrier. “It’s a good feeling to get it out of the way, and now I’ll just keep going.”

While playing against players that one called teammates just last season may present problems for younger, less experienced players, for Kane, it’s all in a day’s work.

“It’s a lot of fun to go out there and play against your friends. I’ve been around a bit and done it a lot, so I think it brings the best out of me sometimes.”


*Photo courtesy of JUSTSPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY

BEARS PELT PENS

Some say that a good defense will beat a good offense, but it has taken the Hershey Bears a perfect combination of both to be able to claim a 22 home game winning streak Saturday night was a prime example of both in action as the Bears downed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 4-0 at Giant Center.

The Bears received a single goal from Francois Bouchard, and from each member of their top-scoring line which consists of Alexandre Giroux, Keith Aucoin, and Andrew Gordon. Those goals, coupled with a 25 save shutout by netminder, Braden Holtby, propelled the Bears to within two points of becoming the first team to reach 100 points this season.

Although often overshadowed by the offensive arsenal that defines the Bears, the defensive unit, which includes the league’s top penalty kill, has been rock-solid throughout the home winning streak, not giving up any goals in 26 of 66 periods during the run.

“I think our team defense has been good tonight,” said Bears’ bench boss, Mark French. “I thought it was more about Braden Holtby…overall, through the stretch, I think our commitment to defense has been very good; offense comes fairly easy for us, but if I see that our team’s sharp, it’s usually by us playing strong defense.”

After a scoreless first period that saw the Bears put only four shots on net, they came out storming early in the second, beginning with Giroux’s breakaway attempt that was thwarted by Penguins goaltender, Brad Theissen. Although Giroux was denied in his attempt, Aucoin would not be denied, pickpocketing former Bears’ defenseman, Deryk Engelland, and joined Giroux in the 30 goal club.

“I’ve never gotten 30 before, and it’s my ninth year,” said Aucoin. “It’s one of those things that I didn’t think would happen, especially when I’ve played with G and Gordon and knowing those guys are going to get a lot of goals. It’s a great accomplishment. I finally did it. I think 30 goals is pretty hard to get in this league, and it was good to get that done.”

Shortly after Aucoin’s monumental marker, Holtby showcased some of his best work of the night by stopping Chris Conner’s breakaway attempt and narrowly avoided disaster on a goal-mouth scramble.

“I was talking to Ammo about it and he said he was trying to cross check Kaner to knock the net off,” joked Holtby. “It was a quick shot to my left pad, then on the rebound, they shot it back to my far right and kind of hit me on a weird spot—my toe—and it rolled up and over the net.”

Gordon joined his linemates in the 30 goal club with his 14th power play strike with Aucoin and Chris Bourque picking up the assists.

“I was trying to stand perfectly still so I wouldn’t be in the way of the pass because I figured he was looking for Giroux on the back side,” Gordon said. “Once that pass went past me, I knew it didn’t get all the way to Giroux, so I just took a look around and saw it sitting in the crease for me to poke home.”

“Reaching that plateau means I’m going to have to try to score a lot next year, or I’ll feel like a failure,” laughed Gordon. “It’s nice milestone to make; it’s sort of how I’ve been contributing to the team this year, by picking up those dirty rebounds. For me it’s a symbol of the work I’m putting in, and the fact that I’m doing a decent job at the role I’ve been given this year.”

Giroux and Bouchard tacked on third period goals to ensure the Bears’ that their record-breaking home winning streak would continue to be improved.

Despite the fact that Aucoin has assisted on 18 of Gordon’s goals, he takes little credit for his linemate’s success.

“I think he earned it. He’s a hard worker and gets in the corners and gets us the puck and gets in front of the net. He gets the dirty goals and has a great shot. I don’t think it has anything to do with me and G. He’s earned it and he’s worked hard, and I’m happy for him.”