Hershey, PA – Former Hartford Wolf Pack forward Chris Bourque’s power-play goal at 2:50 of overtime gave the Hershey Bears a 3-2 win over the Wolf Pack Saturday night at Giant Center, in the first of back-to-back games between the two teams.
The overtime loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Wolf Pack, who got goals from Jayson Megna and Shawn O’Donnell. Travis Boyd had a goal and an assist for Hershey, and defenseman Ryan Stanton also scored.
“This is a tough building to play in,” O’Donnell said, “it’s a good hockey team over there. Obviously we’d like to get the two (points), but we’ll take the one.”
The winning goal came after the Wolf Pack’s Adam Tambellini was whistled for slashing at 1:18 of the overtime. A shot by Jakub Vrana rang off the goalpost behind Wolf Pack goaltender Magnus Hellberg (28 saves), and the carom came to Boyd on the left-wing side. Boyd passed across to Bourque in the opposite circle, and Bourque had plenty of net to shoot at for the winner.
A carefully-played first period featured few scoring chances, and saw the Bears outshoot the Wolf Pack 7-3.
The scoreless tie lasted until the 12:49 mark of the second period, before the two clubs combined for a pair of goals in a span of 3:50.
The Wolf Pack’s Megna gave Hartford the game’s first lead at 12:49, with his second goal of the season. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Brian Gibbons’ feed to Megna in the left circle was in Megna’s skates, but he dug it free and flicked a shot past Hershey goaltender Dan Ellis (22 saves) on the short side.
The Bears answered back at 16:39, though, on a goal by Stanton. Stanton’s shot from the left-wing boards went through a Paul Carey screen and eluded Hellberg inside the post to his left.
The two teams also scored closely-spaced goals early in the third period, starting with a Hershey power-play goal at 2:17. With Chris McCarthy off for hooking, Boyd scored his first pro goal on a shot from the right side, with Sean Collins screening Hellberg.
The Wolf Pack responded only 1:27 later, at 3:44, with O’Donnell posting his first point of the season. Nick Tarnasky, playing his first game of the year for Hartford, carried the puck around the net to Ellis’ left, and Tarnasky’s wraparound try went off of Ellis to O’Donnell, who easily buried it from the left side of the goalmouth.
The Wolf Pack and Bears finish the back-to-back set Sunday at Giant Center, with faceoff at 5:00 PM.
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