Bears visit Binghamton tonight

Hershey comes off last nights win over Springfield and heads north on I-81 to Binghamton to take on the Senators.

 

This is the 7th meeting of the season between the teams with Hershey handling the Sens this season going 4-2 against them to date. 

 

Tonight is Hershey's final trip to Binghamton during the regular season while the Sens make one more trip to Hershey yet this year.

 

If you think that Hershey has dominated this season series you would only be half right.  Sure Hershey has outscored the Sens 28-11 in the 6 games and yes they have 4 wins.  But 18 of those goals came during games in Hershey.

 

The last 2 games in Binghamton (one just a couple weekends ago) resulted in a 2-1 Hershey loss.  In fact it was the Bears last loss as they have won 4 straight since then.

 

In Binghamton Hershey has lost 2 straight and while they have outscored the Sens 10-7 in New York, 7 of those goals came in one game back in early October. 

 

Binghamton is a tougher team at home then they are on the road and they have controlled Hershey in the last 2 games there.

 

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A couple thoughts and then some information about the Bears and Sens:

• Expect Braden Holtby to get the start tonight as Dany Sabourin has played the last 4 games and with another 3 in 3 (including an early Saturday game on the back end) Dany will need to be fresh.
• Reportedly Mathieu Perreault and Jay Beagle will not actually be reporting to Hershey.  Apparently it was simply a 'paper' transaction and neither player will officially be playing for the Bears anytime soon.  I am not sure why they would do this transaction so I am not convinced that one or both won't be back sometime soon.  The Caps will have a full roster (almost) after the All-Star break as Alexander Semin is expected back then.  Tom Poti, I think is banged up right now, and Tyler Sloan, who is on a conditioning assignment in Hershey, are the only 2 players that remain out of the lineup.  When they are back, the Caps have a full roster of 23 players.  So as I said before...I am not convinced that the two players won't be reporting to Hershey at some point in the near future.

 

 

 

Hershey Bears
record ~ 27-14-1-2 55 points
standings ~ 2nd in East Division
most recent game ~ 4-3 Win vs Springfield, 1/27
last 5 games ~ 4-1-0-0
road record ~ 12-6-1-1
goals for ~ 154
goals against ~ 105
power play ~ 21.9% (5th)
penalty kill ~ 83.7% (12th)

 

 

Binghamton Senators
record ~ 23-19-2-3 51 points
standings ~ 5th in East Division
most recent game ~ 4-3 Loss @ Adirondack, 1/26
last 5 games ~ 3-1-0-1
home record ~ 12-8-2-2
goals for ~ 152
goals against ~ 133
power play ~ 22.2% (3rd)
penalty kill ~ 81.7% (19th)

 

 

last time teams met - 7th meeting of the season.  Hershey lost 2-1 in Binghamton on January 16.  Overall Hershey has gone 4-2-0-0 against the Senators this season.

 

 

Players to watch:

Hershey:

RW Andre Gordon (10) - Leading the team in goals (21) and points (43).  5th in the league in goals and 8th in points.  He has a 4 game point streak with 3 goals and 4 assists in that time.  Has 3 goals and 4 assists against the Senators this season.
F Brian Willsie (18) - Second on the team in goals (18) and points (42).  He has scored in 4 straight games.  5 goals and 3 assists in those 4 games.  He has 3 goals and 6 assists against the Senators this season.
RW Francois Bouchard (22) - Has been playing better in the seasons second half with 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 5 games.  Has 14 points this season with 6 of them (3 goals, 3 assists) coming against the Senators.

Senators:

 

C Corey Locke (84) - Leading the team and the league in points (59) and assists (43).  Has at least one point in 12 of his last 13 games.  Multi point games in 17 games this season including 6 of the last 13.  5 goals and 18 assists in his last 13 games.
LW Kaspars Daugavins (26) - Only 7th on the team in goals (9) and points (29) but he has 1 goal and 9 assists in the last 10 games.
RW Ryan Keller (28) - Second on the team in goals with 17.  He has 9 goals and 4 assists since December 31.

 

 

LET'S GO BEARS!!!