Sunday, December 21, 2014

The One That Got Away

Well, the Springfield Falcons rolled into town Saturday night and handed the Bears, as well as the fans, some coal in their skate boots with a 2-1 overtime loss. The way the overtime was going and how the goal was scored, I can't remember the last time I've seen almost all those in attendance stay seated with a stunned expression on their faces.

Hershey controlled the pace of the overtime with most of the time being spent the Falcons' zone. Andre Burakovsky was a beast in OT and it seemed like he was playing every other shift. Casey Wellman and Chris Brown both had excellent chances to put the game away. Wellman had a one-timer from the slot while Brown's chance moving left to right across the crease was just stopped by the toe pad of Falcons' goalie Anton Forsberg.

This was one of those run and gun type games but also a goaltenders battle. Both Philip Grubauer and Forsberg put on a display last night that showcased why they're two of the top 10 goalies in the league right now.

The Bears were outshot 10 to 6 in the first period and found themselves down 1-0. However, they would outshoot the Falcons 14 to 8 in the second and tie it 1-1 on a nice goal by Chandler Stephenson. On a rush in the early part of the period, as Stephenson skated over the blue line he received a pass from Byers and, at about the face-off dot, roofed the puck over the right shoulder of Forsberg into the top left corner.

As well as Grubauer played, the overtime goal was a tough one to let in. As Falcons' T.J. Tynan deked to his right, Grubauer moved with him but there was just enough room for the puck to hit the post and then bounce off Grubauer's leg to make it over the goal line.

Overall, the team had speed and were really gunning for the win last night. Unfortunately, the overtime got away from them and the Bears end up 0-1-1 for the weekend.

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