Hershey Bears Week Preview: February 16

January 17, 2015: The players huddle together to celebrate an overtime victory over the Albany Devils.

The Hershey Bears are coming off an outstanding three game weekend, which included traveling to Albany to play the Devils, back home for the Portland Pirates, and finishing up in Connecticut to take on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Even with the crazy traveling schedule, the Bears tallied six out of six points to take sole position of second place in the Eastern Conference. Multiple players had a great weekend in the scoring department including Dustin Gazley with four goals, Stanislav Galiev with three goals, and Casey Wellman with two. As always, the Bears were backstopped by consistently strong net minding. On Sunday, Pheonix Copley continued his phenomenal rookie season by stopping 27 of 28 shots, and Philipp Grubrauer kept his game solid since returning from injury.

The Bears will look to keep their 13 game point streak alive as they head into the week of February 16^th.

Hershey Bears vs. Binghamton Senators

Friday’s game will be the fifth of eight meetings between the Bears and Senators this season. The last match up on February 6^th ended in a tight 3-2 victory for the Bears. The BSens are coming off a two game winning streak, but seem to be struggling a bit this season with a record of 20-23-5-1 and are currently last in the Eastern Conference. Also, the Senators just lost their leading goal scorer and AHL All-Star, Shane Prince, to a recall to Ottawa. Prince will join BSens goalie Andrew Hammond, who is also on recall due to an injury to Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson.

Who to watch: Jean-Gabriel Pageau

As a recent reassignment from Ottawa, Pageau could really help to boost the offense for the BSens. Before his 23 game recall with Ottawa, he had 21 points in 26 games. Pageau should bolster a team that needs to pick up its game to make a playoff push, and an East Division competitor like the Bears would be a great place to earn valuable points.

A reminder for any fans not making the trip to Binghamton, you can catch a live broadcast of the game in central Pennsylvania on abc27.2, Comcast 246, Verizon Fios 461, Blue Ridge 152 and Kuhn 67.

Hershey Bears vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers

Undoubtedly, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers will be looking for redemption for their 5-1 loss to the Bears this past Sunday. On December 5, Hershey faced Bridgeport in another high scoring game where Hershey dominated in a 6-3 victory. Former Hershey Bears goaltender David Leggio was in net for both of Bridgeport’s losses to the Bears. I know Leggio is a quite capable goalie, but hasn’t been posting the same numbers this year as when he was with the Bears. It will be interesting if the Bridgeport coaching staff picks Leggio to start again on Saturday or goes with Kevin Poulin. Also, New York Islanders defensemen Matt Carkner cleared waivers today and was reassigned to Bridgeport. Carkner had surgery on a herniated disk in November and hasn’t played a game for the Islanders this season. I think his time with Bridgeport will help him get some game action and work his way back to the NHL.

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Who to watch: Cory Conacher

Cory Conacher spent last season split between the Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres. The Islanders sent him down to Bridgeport in December, and he has since registered five goals and fifteen assists in 23 games. In the 2011-12, Conacher had his best season in the AHL tallying 80 points in 75 games, winning AHL MVP, Rookie of the Year, and the Calder Cup with the Norfolk Admirals. Cory Conacher scored the lone goal against the Bears in Bridgeport’s 5-1 loss on Sunday.

Hershey Bears vs. Providence Bruins

The Bears will round out the weekend for its third game in three days when they face the Providence Bruins on

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Sunday. It is the first of two times these teams will meet this season, and the only time the Bruins will be at the Giant Center, so you will want to make sure you catch this Providence team. The Bruins are currently eighth in the Eastern Conference with 57 points in 51 games, but the Portland Pirates are right behind them with 55 points in 50 games. The Bruins will be fighting to keep the eighth seed, so it should be a tough team to face. The Boston Bruins decided to bring up G Niklas Svedberg to back up Tuukka Rask this season. Bears fans should remember Svedberg from helping his team complete the reverse sweep on the Bears in the 2012-13 playoffs. While we won’t see Svedberg this season, Providence has found a pretty good tandem to replace him in Malcolm Subban (.920 SV%) and Jeremy Smith (.927 SV%).

Who to watch: Ryan Spooner

Ryan Spooner has had a great few seasons with Providence and has kept it going this season. During Providence’s game on February 13 against the Portland Pirates, Spooner assisted on three goals including the game winner. With 77 shots in 31 games, he is sure to keep Grubauer or Copley quite active.

Lastly fans, don’t forget about the Running for Rachel benefit held at five different Arooga’s Grille House & Sports Bar locations on the Wednesday, February 18, from 6-8 PM. For more information on the fundraising event and to learn more about Running for Rachel. Come out to meet your favorite players, bid on some silent auction items, and support a great cause!