Monarchs at Bears Preview, 1/24

Hershey Bears
record ~ 31-12-0-3 65 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 4-3 SO Loss vs Wilkes Barre, 1/23
last 5 games ~ 3-0-0-2
home record ~ 16-5-0-2
goals for ~ 181
goals against ~134
power play ~ 18.1% (11th)
penalty kill ~ 80.8% (23rd)


Manchester Monarchs
record ~ 18-21-0-5 41 points
standings ~ 6th in Atlantic Division
most recent game ~ 2-1 Loss @ Philadelphia, 1/23
last 5 games ~ 1-4-0-0
road record ~ 9-13-0-2
goals for ~ 108
goals against ~ 129
power play ~ 15.6% (22nd)
penalty kill ~ 82.8% (17th)

last time teams met - First meeting this season.

Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Alexandre Giroux (12)- The point streak is at a Bears record 21 games. The AHL record is 39 games so he has a ways to go.
LW Chris Bourque (17) - He took a dumb penalty last night that hurt the team but he did score his second goal in as many games.
C Keith Aucoin (11) - He is obviously overshadowed right now by Giroux but in the month of January he has 5 goals and 12 assists. He still leads the league with 58 points this season.

Monarchs:

RW Teddy Purcell (62) - Has only played 5 games with team over last 3 months due to call up with LA Kings. In 25 games with Monarchs he has 9 goals and 11 assists.
LW Matt Moulson (52) - He also spent some time up with the Kings and has only played 19 games with the Monarchs. In those games he has 7 goals and 8 assists including 3 goals and 3 assists in his last 6 games.
RW Trevor Lewis (11) - He leads the team in points and is tied for the team lead in goals and assists. He has 10 goals and 18 assists this season.


News and Notes:

• The teams split their 2 games last season with each road team winning.
• They play again later this season in Manchester on March 22.

• Manchester has not been good on the road since they had a 5 game road winning streak back in November.
• In 16 road games since that streak they have won 3 of them. 3-13 in their last 16 road games is not good.
• Overall they have only won 2 of their last 10 games.
• Against the East division they are 2-7 this season.

• Hershey has lost 4 of their last 5 home games.
• Against the Atlantic division the Bears are 6-1 against the Atlantic division.
• Expect Daren Machesney to start in goal tonight although Michal Neuvirth could possibly start again tonight.