No Christmas Candy for the Little Devils: Hershey Bears Win 4-2

With a disappointing Texas road trip behind them, the Hershey Bears returned to the Giant Center last night to host the Lowell Devils. Prior to the puck drop, Oskar Osala was applauded for his AHL rookie of the month honors. Osala is developing quickly in his first professional season, and with one NHL game already on his resume this season, he could be on pace to make the transition to the Capitals roster a lot sooner than originally expected. Good luck to you Oskar!

While a handful of Bears remain on the Capitals roster, those that dressed in the chocolate and white last night put in a solid effort against a team that played a lot harder than their win-loss record indicated. Hershey fans would celebrate early after Graham Mink received a nifty pass from Keith Aucoin and slipped the puck into a wide open net just eleven seconds into the game. Kyle Wilson would extend the lead to 2-0 with just under four minutes left in the first period, with assists credited to Darren Reid and Bryan Helmer. Bears fans, in all their "ugly holiday sweater" glory, were in great spirits as the first period ended.

The second period seemed a little less energetic, although things did not start out that way with Andrew Gordon adding another Hershey goal just 1:34 into the period. Daren Machesney would be denied the shutout opportunity midway through the period as Lowell finally found the back of the net, and the score remained 3-1 as both teams went into the locker rooms.

The third period saw referee Nygel Pelletier become very trigger happy with his whistle. Ten penalties would be issued over the course of the twenty minute period, six of which were assessed after an all-out brawl in the dying seconds of the game. The Devils narrowed the deficit to one goal with four minutes remaining, but an outstanding pickpocket play behind the crease from Kyle Wilson led to his second goal of the night and the Bears victory. With a great offensive effort from the Laing-Wilson-Gordon line, Kyle was the recipient of the first star.

Thursday Night Recap:
We traveled to the Verizon Center last Thursday to watch the Capitals take on the St Louis Blues in a battle of the injury-ridden rosters. It was great to see rookie netminder Simeon Varlamov in action for the Capitals, and he looked sharp as the Caps registered a 4-2 victory after goals from Viktor Kozlov (2), Tomas Fleischmann and Alexander Ovechkin. A price was paid for the victory, however, as both Mike Green and Alexander Semin sustained injuries and were once again listed a day-to-day in terms of when they would likely play again. The missed cross-checking call on Semin was a terrible lack of judgment from the officials, with the feisty retaliation from the Great Eight being more than justified. The following bench minor assessed against Bruce Boudreau served only to make the officiating crew look dumber than they were - which was not really difficult on their parts. Coming away with the two points kept the Capitals in a healthy position, but these injuries to key players serve only to challenge that pace and consistency.