HERSHEY, PA – The Binghamton Devils fell to the Hershey Bears on Saturday night at Giant Center in front of 8,828 fans, 5-2.
Hershey took a 1-0 lead 6:54 into the game off the stick of Travis Boyd. Chris Bourque sent the puck to Boyd who moved into the offensive zone and released the puck over the shoulder of goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood for the one goal advantage. Boyd’s tally was his fifth of the year with assists from Bourque and Aaron Ness.
At the 11:54 mark of the opening period, the Bears moved out to a 2-0 lead. Dustin Gazley sent the puck under the pads of Blackwood for his third of the year from Tyler Graovac and Riley Barber. After 20 minutes of play, the Bears held a 2-0 lead despite being outshot by the Devils, 9-6.
After no scoring in the second period, five combined goals were scored in the third period. Riley Barber and Zach Sill each tallied goals in the first 8:49 of the final period to move out to a 4-0 lead. Berber’s eighth of the year came at the 3:19 mark from Dustin Gazley and Tyler Lewington and then Sill deflected the puck by Blackwood for his second of the year.
Nathan Bastian broke the shutout bid at 11:04 of the third period on a puck to the left of the net. After the Devils missed several chances, Bastian knocked the puck out of mid air and sent it by the glove of goaltender Vitek Vanecek. The goal was Bastian’s seventh of the year from Blake Pietila and Jacob MacDonald.
Boyd scored his second goal of the night and sixth of the year 1:08 later to take back the four-goal lead for the Bears. Boyd took a pass in the hash marks and beat Blackwood on the glove side with assists from Liam O’Brien and Bourque.
Binghamton pulled back within three late in the game as Bracken Kearns netted his sixth of the year from John Quenneville and Michael Latta with just 1:16 left in the game. The 5-2 deficit held up as the final score with Blackwood stopping 18 of 23 shots.
