Bears @ Wolf Pack Preview, 1/3

Hershey Bears
record ~ 24-9-0-1 49 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 7-2 Loss @ Providence, 1/2
last 5 games ~ 3-2-0-0
road record ~ 10-6-0-1
goals for ~ 132
goals against ~93
power play ~ 16.6% (15th)
penalty kill ~ 82.5% (16th)


Hartford Wolf Pack
record ~ 17-14-1-3 38 points
standings ~ 3rd in Atlantic Division
most recent game ~ 3-1 Win vs Grand Rapids, 1/2
last 5 games ~ 3-2-0-0
home record ~ 12-5-0-2
goals for ~ 99
goals against ~ 105
power play ~ 17.3% (13th)
penalty kill ~ 81.0% (23rd)

last time teams met - Hershey won 4-2 on December 6th in Hershey.

Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Chris Bourque (17)- He is really the player that makes this team go. When he is playing good the team is usually playing good and the opposite is also true. He isn't scoring as much as last season and right now this team needs him to produce.
LW Oskar Osala (36) - He leads the team with 17 goals but only 2 of them have come in his last 10 games. Another player that needs to produce now when things aren't going well.
RW Andrew Gordon (10) - 11 goals and 11 assists on the season is okay but in the last 15 games he only has 2 goals and 5 assists. More is needed from him as well.

Hartford:

RW Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau (17) - Tied for the team lead in points with 34. Leads the team with 15 goals and is second with 19 assists. 4 goals and 4 assists in the last 6 games including goals in 3 straight.
C Artem Anisimov (42) - Second on the team with 14 goals. Leads the team with 20 assists and is tied for the points lead with 34. 3 goals and 5 assists in the last 5 games.
C Mike Ouellette (44) - Not a tremendous offensive threat with only 4 goals and 7 assists this season but he has goals in the last 2 games and is the team leader with a +9. Whoever he is matched up against they will have a hard time scoring.


News and notes:

• Simeon Varlamov will get the start in goal tonight for Hershey.
• Not word on who will start Sunday in Worcester but it could be Daren Machesney who returned from the Spengler Cup to join the team yesterday but the long travel may make him unavailable.
• Tyler Sloan and Chris Bourque returned to the lineup last night after stints in Washington. It was Sloan's first game in the lineup since November 2.
• Good sign for Hershey...Hartford has not won back to back games on consecutive nights since the end of October and they won last night.