Bears edge Norfolk in East Division battle

The Bears used three power-play goals and Eric Fehr provided the game-winning goal in overtime as Hershey defeated Norfolk 3-2 at the Giant Center on Saturday night and re-gained second-place in the East Division.

Frederic Cassivi made 22 saves for the Bears, while opposing goaltender Corey Crawford stopped 41 shots in a losing effort for Norfolk.

Kyle Wilson had a goal and an assist and teammate Lawrence Nycholat had two helpers for the Bears, who improved to 6-1-3-2 on home ice this season.

Troy Brouwer, who has points in six of his last seven games, and Reed Low scored in the Admirals’ loss.

With Hershey one point behind first-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and one ahead of third-place Norfolk, the Bears and Admirals meet again on Sunday evening.


GRAND RAPIDS 2, TORONTO 1
Josh Langfeld broke a 1-1 tie 2:45 into the third period to lift the Griffins to a 2-1 win over the Marlies at the Ricoh Coliseum.

Netminder Jimmy Howard stopped 39 of 40 shots for Grand Rapids while Matt Ellis tallied the first goal for the Griffins, who split a home-and-home series against Toronto.

Alex Foster provided the only goal for the Marlies in the contest.

Including last year’s postseason series, the road team has won the last eight meetings between the clubs.


ALBANY 2, PROVIDENCE 1
Scott Kelman’s goal at 5:18 in the second period proved to be the difference as the River Rats won their third-straight game with a 2-1 win over visiting Providence.

Ben Guite scored the first goal of the game for Albany as netminder Justin Peters made 29 saves for his third win in as many starts.

Kris Versteeg scored the only goal for Providence, who lost for the first time in regulation since Nov. 26.


SAN ANTONIO 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (SO)
Josh Tordjman stopped 29 of 31 shots and all four skaters in the shootout as the Rampage ended their three-game winless skid with a 3-2 shootout win at home against Milwaukee.

Donald MacLean and Jeff Taffe provided the Rampage goals in regulation as Yanick Lehoux and Jakub Koreis registered goals in the shootout to give San Antonio the win and split the weekend series with the Admirals.

Ramzi Abid and Rich Peverley, who has six assists and eight points in his last four games, scored for Milwaukee, while Karl Goehring made 30 saves in a losing effort.


SPRINGFIELD 3, WORCESTER 0
Jonathan Boutin stopped all 32 shots faced for his first shutout of the year as the Falcons’ shut down the Sharks by a score of 3-0 at the DCU Center.

Norm Milley and Justin Keller provided power-play tallies for Springfield and Marek Kvapil scored an empty-net goal to cap the victory.

Nolan Schaefer stopped 18 shots in a losing effort for the Sharks, who have now dropped their last six games at home.


BINGHAMTON 5, BRIDGEPORT 2
The B-Sens came out firing, registering 16 shots and four goals in the first period as they defeated the Sound Tigers by a score of 5-2 at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

Jeff Heerema scored a pair of goals and added an assist while Josh Hennessy and Arttu Luttinen had two helpers to lift Binghamton to its first win in three games.

Danny Bois, Grant Potulny and Brian Maloney provided the other tallies for the Senators as netminder Jeff Glass stopped 26 of 28 shots in the victory.

Michael Mole stopped all 18 shots he faced coming in relief of former Senator Billy Thompson in the first period for Bridgeport.


WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON 5, CHICAGO 3
Jonathan Filewich had a pair of power-play goals for the Penguins in a battle of division leaders as they defeated the Chicago Wolves by a score of 5-3 at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Center.

Andrew Penner made 23 saves as teammates Joe Jensen, Daniel Carcillo and Tim Wallace also tallied for the baby Pens, who maintains their lead in the East with an 18-4-1-2 record and 39 points.

Darren Haydar scored a goal for the Wolves to extend his scoring streak to 26 games, although his 14-game assist streak came to an end. Linemate Jason Krog registered an assist to keep his own scoring streak alive at 25 games.


LOWELL 6, HARTFORD 4
A pair of power-play goals in the third period helped stop a Hartford comeback in the Devils 6-4 win on the road against the Wolf Pack.

Rod Pelley recorded his first professional hat trick for the Devils in a game that saw Lowell score the first three goals only to see the Wolf Pack scored the next three and battle back to tie it up in the third period.

Justin Papineau had a goal and an assist and defenseman Scott Lachance registered two assists while netminder Frank Doyle had 26 saves for the Devils on the night.

Ryan Callahan and Dane Byers each tallied a goal and an assist while Greg Moore added two helpers in the loss for the Wolf Pack.


SYRACUSE 6, PHILADELPHIA 1
Andrew Murray had two goals and two assists as the Crunch defeated the Phantoms by a score of 6-1.

Murray, who now has six points (3g, 3a) in his last two tilts, recorded a plus-3 rating on the night while netminder Tomas Popperle stopped 34 of 35 shots for Syracuse who is a winner of its last three games.

Geoff Platt had a goal and an assist and teammates Mark Hartigan, Darcy Verot and Joakim Lindstrom provided the other Crunch goals in the contest.

Phantoms defenseman Don Morrison scored the only goal in the loss.


OMAHA 4, HOUSTON 3 (SO)
Dustin Boyd registered a goal and two assists and provided two shootout goals, including the game-winner in the 13th round, to lift the Ak-Sar-Ben Knights to a 4-3 win over the Aeros at Toyota Center.

Carsen Germyn had a goal and an assist in the contest as netminder Curtis McElhinney stopped 28 shots in regulation and overtime and 11 of 13 skaters in the shootout for his third-straight win over Houston.

Aeros defenseman Peter Ratchuk had a goal and an assist in the loss for Houston, who is winless in four games against Omaha this season.


MANCHESTER 3, PORTLAND 2 (OT)
Gabe Gauthier scored with 1:17 left in overtime to lift the Monarchs to a 3-2 win at home over Portland.

Konstantin Pushkarev recorded his second goal of the year to knot the game at 2-2 in the third period and teammates Ryan Murphy and defenseman T.J. Kemp had two assists for Manchester who won its third straight game and the front end of a home-and-home series against the Pirates.

Jason LaBarbera stopped 32 of 34 shots for the Monarchs while Pierre Parenteau recorded a goal and an assist in the Pirates’ loss.


ROCHESTER 6, HAMILTON 3
Rochester scored five of the last six goals in the contest as seven different players tallied multiple points in the Amerks 6-3 win at home against the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Drew Stafford led the charge for Rochester, scoring two goals on the night, while teammates Dylan Hunter, Daniel Paille, Clarke MacArthur and Janis Sprukts each registered two assists on the night.

Amerks’ netminder Adam Dennis needed just 20 saves on the night to pick up his seventh victory on the year.

Andrei Kostitsyn recorded three assists on the night and Duncan Milroy picked up a goal and an assist for the Bulldogs, who played their first game on a six-game, 18-day road trip.