Bears fall at home

For the first time this season the Bears took a lead into the third period and lost. Albany came in after a long night of travel and beat the Bears 6-4 to win their first game of the season against Hershey.

I didn't get to see the game live last night but I watched it this morning on AHL Live. I was expecting to see a Hershey team get outworked and outplayed all night and barely make it a game. But that isn't what I saw. Honestly I thought Hershey played very well but Albany played much better in their own zone.

Hershey couldn't get many shots on net and surely didn't get many passes through because the Rats defense was very good all night. The Bears surely put plenty of pressure on them but they stood up to it and only gave up one bad goal.

At the opposite end of the ice it seemed like Daren Machesney was not ready for this kind of a game. It looked like some of the guys showed up expecting to beat the worst team in the division with relative ease and that wasn't the case.

Alexander Giroux scored 2 goals to give him 27 for the season and he reclaimed the AHL goal scoring lead from Chris Minard with those 2 goals. He also extended his goal scoring streak to 10 games which is the longest in the AHL this season.

Overall not a great game by Hershey but not that bad either. They just ran into a team that wanted it more. Emotionally the win Friday night was surely draining because they wanted that as bad as any.

It is impossible in Hockey, or most other sports for that matter, to get up emotionally for every single game. This Albany game was sandwiched between a very emotional game against Houston and the hated Penguins on Sunday. That shouldn't be an excuse for losing but it does explain it.


My Three Stars of the Game:

1. Jakub Petruzalek - had a goal and 2 assists
2. Michael Ryan - Rats leading goal scorer added 2 more last night
3. Alexandre Giroux - 2 goals and the league goal scoring lead

Grading the Performance:

• Offense - B - 4 goals would usually warrant an A but they did not do enough. When a defense is blocking so many shots you need to change something up to get them through. But for the most part they let the Rats D dictate what they did.
• Defense - C - This is probably generous considering the 6 goals (one open net) but I thought without the defense that this game could have been worse. Many times these guys were in position and handled the Rats forwards. Unfortunately just as many times the defense was out of position and gave the Rats forwards easy looks.
• Goaltending - F - Sorry Cheese but that was a bad performance. I thought the defense left you out to dry on a couple of occasions but there were multiple soft goals in my opinion. It was a long layoff for you so I would give you a pass on this one but you gotta show me something next time you get in.
• Power Play - C - 5 chances, 1 goal. Decent but not great. This team should be able to do more. Pressure was for the most part non-existent on the power play and Albany seemed to clear the puck with ease all game.
• Penalty Kill - C - I would give this an F but I think they did OK. Not good but not terrible either. Like I said before....Albany wanted this game more. And it showed on their power play which went 2 for 6 including the game winner.
• Overall - C - To the Rats this was their most important game of the weekend. To the Bears this was the least important of the weekend. Does that excuse the effort (or lack thereof)? No but it does explain it. Not the worst game they have played this season but it still ended with a L.

LET'S GO BEARS!!! GET THIS ONE BACK!!!