Bears Fire Away and Defeat Monarchs
Two Goals on Season-High 44 Shots Enough to Open February with Win
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PrintHERSHEY, Pa. – Mike Carman factored into all of the HERSHEY BEARS scoring, assisting on goals by Barry Almeida and the game-winner by Cameron Schilling in a 2-1 victory over the Manchester Monarchs on Saturday night at GIANT Center.
Having not played since last Saturday, the BEARS were looking for a good start and got it just 2:05 into the game. The fourth line of Almeida, Carman and Matt Clackson combined to stake the BEARS to a 1-0 lead, after Clackson and Carman worked the puck through the neutral zone. Clackson dished ahead for Almeida, who had to weave his way around Manchester defenders and down the slot. He then snapped a shot over the glove of Monarchs goaltender Martin Jones from in close for his fourth goal of the season.
The score held up all the way through the second period, which was highlighted by a scrap between BEARS defenseman Steve Oleksy and Monarchs blueliner Nick Deslauriers. The BEARS outshot the Monarchs 19-5 in the middle period, but Jones held his ground.
Schilling would net the necessary insurance at 5:31 of the third period. Driving down the slot, he one-touched a hard cross-ice pass from Carman over the arm of Jones and under the crossbar.
Linden Vey would make things interesting after the Monarchs scooped up a loose puck from in front of a goalmouth scramble. Chris Huxley grabbed the puck and dished to his left, where Vey fired a low shot inside the left post to beat Philipp Grubauer and cut the BEARS lead to 2-1 at 14:06.
The Monarchs got Jones to the bench for an extra attacker inside the final minute, but drew themselves into two delayed offsides, ending their chance at a comeback.
Grubauer evened his record at 3-3-0 with a 22-save performance, while Jones made 42 saves in a tough loss and fell to 11-15-2. The BEARS finished 0-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The BEARS remain home for a matchup against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins tomorrow, February 3 at GIANT Center. The puck drops at 2:00 PM. Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling (717) 508-BEAR or online at TicketMaster.com.
