Hershey Nips Hartford, Despite Two Goals From Fogarty

Hershey, PA, October 29, 2017 – Steven Fogarty scored his first two goals of the season for the Hartford Wolf Pack Sunday at Giant Center, but the Hershey Bears scored two power-play goals and hung on for a 4-3 win.

With both teams playing their third games of the weekend, Hershey was 2-for-8 on the power play, and got a goal and an assist each from Chris Bourque and Wayne Simpson. Liam O’Brien’s third-period goal turned out to be the game-winner, and Travis Boyd had two assists. Dan Catenacci had a pair of assists for the Wolf Pack.

The Bears struck early to open the scoring, on a Simpson goal at 3:34 of the first period, just after a Wolf Pack power play expired. Bourque came out of the penalty box to send Simpson and Boyd away on a 2-on-1. Boyd’s pass across the slot to Simpson on the right side was perfect, and Wolf Pack goaltender Chris Nell (24 saves) had no chance.

The Wolf Pack equalized less than three minutes later, at 6:08, on a goal by Fogarty, his first point of the season. Fogarty sealed the boards to prevent a Connor Hobbs clearing attempt, and moved down the right side before flicking a shot past Hershey netminder Adam Carlson (33 saves) on the short side.

The Bear power play put them back in front at 11:25, after Dan DeSalvo was called for tripping at 10:42. Bourque got the goal from just below the left point, after taking a feed from the right circle by Boyd, and O’Brien went to the front of the net to screen Nell.

The only goal of the second period was another Bear man-advantage strike, which came at 15:23, with three seconds left on a slashing penalty to Ryan Gropp. Rookie defenseman Lucas Johansen scored his first pro goal from the top of the left circle, through a screen set by John Albert.

Fogarty scored his second of the game 4:34 into the third period to bring the Wolf Pack to within 3-2. Fogarty got a shot from the left circle through Hershey defenseman Tyler Lewington, and it hit Carlson’s blocker and went in.

O’Brien answered that, though, at 11:35 with the eventual winner. The Wolf Pack had some difficulties in the neutral zone, and that allowed Dustin Gazley to break into the Hartford end with speed. He sent a pass around Neal Pionk on the right side, and it found O’Brien for a tap-in.

The Wolf Pack got Nell to the bench for an extra attacker with more than two minutes left, and then had a 6-on-4 man advantage when Hubert Labrie was called for slashing at 17:54. Hartford converted with 16.8 seconds left, when Ryan Graves sent a wrist shot from the left point through a DeSalvo screen and past Carlson.

The Wolf Pack were able to get the puck into the Bear zone again and generate pressure, but Carlson and the Bears were able to hold on, dropping the Wolf Pack to 4-5-0-1 on the season.

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