Subban, Bruins move past Bears with 4-1 win

Hershey, Pa – Zach Sanford scored, but Malcom Subban stopped 28 shots to lead the Providence Bruins to a 4-1 victory over the Hershey Bears at the GIANT Center on Saturday night. The win moved the Bruins ahead of Hershey in the Atlantic Division standings to close out the 2016 portion of the season.

Malcolm Subban.

The Bruins entered Saturday’s game as the AHL’s hottest team, and they continued their strong play by jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the opening frame. Jordan Swarz scored his eighth goal of the season to open the scoring at 13:09 of the first period. Swarz deflected defenseman Ben Marshall’s shot from the left point past Hershey netminder Vitek Vanecek to make it 1-0 Bruins.

At 18:33, Wayne Simpson notched his 10th goal of the season, ripping a shot top corner over the blocker of Vanecek to make it 2-0. The forward streaked down the right wing and placed a perfect shot to quiet the crowd of 9,314.

The Bears scored the lone goal of the middle frame as Sanford cut the lead in half with his fifth goal of the season. With Hershey on its sixth power play of the game, Sanford struck on a rebound. Christian Thomas started the play, firing a shot from the slot that was deflected by Stan Galiev. Subban made a left pad save, but Sanford poked in the rebound on the backhand to make it 2-1.

In the third period, Providence sealed the victory with two goals in less than a minute. Colby Cave scored at 5:45, sliding a backhand shot through the legs of Vanecek. At 6:22, Danton Heinen made it 4-1 Providence. The forward scored an unassisted goal on a turnover, lifting a backhand shot over the glove of Vanecek.

Subban was the game’s first star with 28 saves, including several of the highlight reel variety. The netminder’s best save came on forward Paul Carey in the second period, as the goaltender snagged a rebound shot while sprawled with his catching glove.

Providence outshot Hershey 30-29. Hershey was 1-for-6 on the power play while Providence was 0-for-3.
Match report courtesy of Hershey Bears