A Weekend in Review

I obviously haven't done my game reviews yet for this weekends games. So today I will review the weekend as a whole instead of each game.

The Bears regained first place in the East division for a short period this weekend after winning both of their games this weekend.

Personally I felt that both games were very well played by the Bears. They beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Friday night and then returned home and beat Bridgeport 4-1 on Saturday night.

With those two wins the Bears have now won 5 straight and are right with Bridgeport in the standings at only 1 point back.

It would appear that the Bears have gotten past their scoring slump and the goaltenders seem to have overcome their mental mistakes and the entire team and coaching staff had a very complete weekend.

Both goalies assisted on goals, Simeon Varlamov on Kyle Wilson's eventual game winner on Friday night and Daren Machesney on Sami Lepisto's eventual game winner on Saturday night. It was the first assist of the season for both goalies and it was the first of Varlamov's AHL career.

Scoring came from many different lines in the two games. The MAG line accounted for 3 goals with each of the players (Mink, Aucoin, and Giroux) scoring goals. The Bourque, Joudrey, and Gordon line scored 1 (Gordon's 9th), the rookie line scored 2 goals (Osala and Bouchard), the Laing, Wilson, Reid/Pinnizzotto line added 2 from Wilson on Friday night, and Sami Lepisto got into the scoring for the defense.

That just shows how good this team can be offensively as they got goals from each line and the defense in two games.


My Three Stars of the Weekend:

1. The MAG Line - all three players totaled a goal and 2 assists in the two games
2. Kyle Wilson - scored 2 Friday and is playing as good as anyone right now
3. Mathieu Perrault - all over the place in both games and 2 primary assists

Grading the Performance of the Weekend:

• Offense - A - 9 goals in 2 games against a rival on the road and a good team against Bridgeport. They totaled 75 shots in the two games and are making life very difficult for opposing goalies. As I mentioned before the entire team (all 4 lines and the defense) is scoring right now. Can't get much more complete than that.
• Defense - A - 3 goals on 50 shots is all they allowed in 2 games. Very good weekend for the Bears D. Greg Amadio was exceptional all weekend and really showed me something on the weekend. There were still some minor lapses but you can't ever be perfect.
• Goaltending - A - Varlamov stopped 30 of 32 in Philly Friday night and Cheese responded with 17 saves on 18 shots Saturday night in Hershey. Both goalies played very well and were helped out by their defense when they needed to be.
• Power Play - B - 2 for 13 on the weekend isn't terrible but it isn't great either. They shot plenty but did have some trouble getting set up in the offensive zone.
• Penalty Kill - C - Allowed 2 goals on 10 opportunities in two games. Not terrible but not good either. They need to stay more disciplined in their own zone on the kills.
• Overall - A - I think this team is a complete team that can do everything well. If they need to play physical they can and if they need to score a lot they can. When they are focused and avoid hot goaltenders this team can score at will and this weekend proved that.

Interesting Stat:

In the past 5 games the Bears have outscored the opponents 28-8 and haven't allowed more than 3 goals in any of the games. Pretty good.

LET'S GO BEARS!!!