Big third period leads Bears to win in 5,000th game

Quintin Laing recorded a hat trick while Tomas Fleischmann had two goals as Hershey played its 5,000th game in franchise history and defeated the River Rats by a score of 7-4 on Wednesday.

The Bears broke a 3-3 tie heading into the third period by scoring four goals in the final frame. Netminder Maxime Daigneault stopped five of six shots to earn the win in relief of Frederic Cassivi, who had stopped 29 of 32 shots in the first and second periods.

Dave Steckel also recorded three points, scoring a goal and adding two helpers as the Bears had seven players register two points or more in the contest, including Chris Bourque who had two assists and was a plus-4 on the night.

Albany had four different players score and centers Ben Guite and Dave Gove each had a pair of assists for Albany, which has lost 16 straight meetings with the Bears since its last win in March 2004.

The Bears, who played their first AHL game on Nov. 5, 1938, wore special commemorative patches on their sweaters, and commemorative game pucks were used to mark the historic night.


IOWA 4, GRAND RAPIDS 3 (OT)
Joel Lundqvist played the hero by scoring the game-tying goal in the third period and game-winning goal in overtime as the Stars defeated Grand Rapids, 4-3, at Van Andel Arena.

Mario Scalzo and John Lammers also provided goals for Iowa, which capped a four-game road trip going 2-2-0-0. Dan Ellis stopped 28 shots for his eighth win of the season.

The Griffins received goals from Eric Himelfarb, Ryan Oulahen and Kip Miller, who earlier in the day was named a playing captain in the 2007 Rbk Hockey AHL All-Star Classic. It was Grand Rapids’ fourth straight loss.


MILWAUKEE 3, OMAHA 2
Three goals in the first period proved to be the difference as Milwaukee downed the Knights by a score of 3-2 at the Omaha Civic Auditorium.

John Vigilante extended his scoring streak to four games by scoring a goal and an assist, giving him six points (3g, 3a) in his last four contests, while Ramzi Abid and Brandon Segal provided the other tallies for the Admirals, who are 7-0-0-2 in their last nine games.

Tomi Maki and Carsen Germyn scored for Omaha in the loss.


MANCHESTER 3, LOWELL 2
The defense came up big for the Monarchs in a 3-2 win against division rival Lowell with goals from blueliners Brendan Buckley and Eric Werner, who tallied the game-winner as well as adding an assist in the contest.

Manchester recorded two of its three goals on the power play and netminder Jason LaBarbera stopped 25 of 27 shots for the Monarchs, who move into a first-place tie with Portland in the Atlantic Division.

In a losing effort, the Devils’ Justin Papineau continued to put points up on the board, registering two goals on the night. He now has 11 points (5g, 6a) in his last eight tilts.


NORFOLK 6, BRIDGEPORT 2
Troy Brouwer recorded a hat trick as Norfolk moved into a tie for first place in the East Division by defeating the Sound Tigers by a score of 6-2.

The rookie Brouwer, who has points in eight of his last nine games, including four multiple-point games, is tied for sixth in the league with 36 points (18g, 18a).

Martin St. Pierre extended his scoring streak to five games (4g, 9a) with two helpers on the night, and netminder Corey Crawford stopped 25 of 27 shots to record his league-leading 16th win.

Allan Rourke and Frans Nielsen provided tallies in the Bridgeport loss.


MANITOBA 2, HAMILTON 1 (OT)
Brandon Reid extended his goal-scoring streak to four games in dramatic fashion, scoring the game-winning goal with 13.7 seconds left in overtime to give the Moose a 2-1 win at home over the Hamilton Bulldogs.

Prestin Ryan provided the other tally as netminder Wade Flaherty stopped 27 of 28 shots for Manitoba, who played the first of three straight games against the Bulldogs.

Kyle Chipchura registered the only Hamilton goal while Jaroslav Halak made 27 saves in the contest.