HERSHEY, Pa. – The Hershey Bears special teams shined as the team notched three power-play goals and killed all nine penalties in a 5-1 victory over the Syracuse Crunch tonight at the Giant Center.
The Bears jumped out to a three-goal lead in the first period before Tanner Richard stopped the scoring streak. The Crunch were unable to build momentum off Richard’s marker and picked up the loss as they move to 7-4-0-1 on the season.
Crunch goaltender Adam Wilcox made two saves before being relieved by Kristers Gudlevskis in the first period. Gudlevskis went on to stop 15-of-18. Vitek Vanecek turned aside 23-of-24 between the pipes for the Bears.
The Bears were first on the board with a breakaway goal halfway through the opening period. Jakub Vrana sped ahead of the Crunch defenders and scored as he cut across the slot from the right wing side. The assists went to Chris Bourque and Nathan Walker. Hershey doubled the lead at the 12:34 mark. Christian Thomas received a pass from Christian Djoos and beat Wilcox five-hole to chase the goaltender from the game.
With 5:24 remaining in the opening frame, the Bears went up, 3-0. Just as a penalty expired and the Bears started a power play, Bourque fired from a wide angle. His shot deflected off the goaltender’s leg and in.
The Crunch finally stole one back 33 seconds into the second period. Cory Conacher fired from the right point, but was blocked. Richard got a stick on it before the puck went off the skate of a Bears defenseman and across the goal line.
Hershey went back up by three, and then four, with two power-play tallies late in the third. Thomas and Liam O’Brien set up a give-and-go play before Thomas one-timed a feed from the slot for his second of the night. Bourque netted his second of the game and secured a 5-1 victory when he sent the puck over Gudlevski’s glove from the point.
The Crunch return to the War Memorial Arena to host the Albany Devils tomorow at 7 p.m.
Syracuse Crunch single game and ticket packages for the 2016-17 season are on sale now and can be purchased either in person at the Crunch office located in the War Memorial Arena at 800 S. State St. in Syracuse or by calling the office at 315-473-4444. For the latest Crunch news, visit www.syracusecrunch.com or follow the club on Facebook (www.facebook.com/syracusecrunch), Twitter (@SyracuseCrunch) and Instagram (@syracusecrunch) using #SyrCrunch, WeAreOne and BLUnited.
Crunchables: Matt Taormina has points in six consecutive games (1g, 5a)…The Crunch had a four-game points streak snapped tonight.
