Bears vs Devils 2.4.2011
Hershey Bears vs the Albany Devils at Boardwalk Hall Atlantic City, New Jersey
DEVILS FALL SHORT AGAINST HERSHEY IN ATLANTIC CITY
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Stephen Gionta and Chad Wiseman each scored, but the Albany Devils lost 5-3 to the Hershey Bears Friday night at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond joined the duo on the score sheet, but it was Hershey’s Brian Willsie who had two goals, including the game winner early in the third.
The Bears (30-14-1-2) erased two deficits in the game to claim their fourth victory of the season against the Devils (18-26-0-3).
Gionta and Wiseman assisted on each other’s goals, moving their season goal total to eight and six, respectively.
Leblond completed two-thirds of the Gordie Howe Hat Trick, netting a goal and mixing it up with Hershey’s Joel Rechlicz. The Devils’ forward opened the scoring with his first goal of the season 2:50 into the first.
Fast forward and Leblond and Rechlicz dropped the gloves late in the second period. The tandem exchanged blows for
an extended period of time before Leblond landed a near-knockout punch that dropped Rechlicz to his knees.
As for the rest of the scoring, Hershey’s Andrew Gordon made it 1-1 on the power play at 16:10 of the first.
In the second, the Devils out chanced the Bears despite being outshot and Wiseman surprised the 4,321 in attendance by making a drop pass on a semi-breakaway. Gionta picked up the puck and fired a shot, allowing Wiseman to swoop in and knock home the rebound. The goal came at 8:50.
From there Hershey made it 2-2 at 10:17 and then 3-2 at 12:37. Francois Bouchard netted the first of those two goals on the power play and Brian Willsie followed moments later.
The two-headed attack of Gionta and Wiseman struck again, making it 3-3 at 1:04 of the third. Wiseman found Gionta for a blast in the slot, beating Hershey’s Todd Ford glove side.
Willsie won it at 4:38 of the third with the team’s third power-play tally and Boyd Kane produced the final score with an empty netter with 17.5 seconds remaining.
In goal, Mike McKenna finished with 28 saves on 32 shots and is now 8-12-0 on the year. Ford made 21 stops on 24 tries and is 3-1-0.
www.thealbanydevils.com/season-2010-11/game-82/
