For a team struggling to score goals, the Adirondack Phantoms didn't have any problem with a shootout Saturday night in Giant Center.
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In fact, that's how they won.
Krys Kolanos' goal in the shootout proved to be the difference as the Phantoms beat the Hershey Bears 5-4 in front of 10,028 fans.
Kolanos and Jon Matsumoto scored for Adirondack in the shootout while Francois Bouchard produced the only Hershey shootout goal against Phantoms goalie Nic Riopel.
Adirondack also got goals during regulation from Stefan Legein, Jason Ward, Matsumoto and David Laliberte, whose goal with Riopel pulled with 36 seconds remaining forced overtime and eventually the shootout.
Ironically, Adirondack had lost three straight coming in and five of its last seven. In those seven games, the Phantoms had scored just seven goals.
Hershey had been the hot team coming in, with 10 wins in its last 13 games.
But the Bears could not put the Phantoms away on two different occasions in the game.
"My honest opinion ... we let them off the hook," said Bears coach Mark French. "The secret of our success [Friday in Adirondack, a 5-1 win] was we didn't wait to shoot. We drove the net and created offensive opportunities.
"We were shooting into their shinpads [tonight], and to me that's indeciveness.
"Guys need to play with an edge, and late in the game guys went over that line.
"Boyd Kane's penalty was a bad penalty. He went over the edge, and it could've cost us the game in overtime."
Hershey was up 2-1 after one period on goals from Michael Dubuc and Darren Reid.
But the Bears had a horrible second period, gave up goals to Matsumoto and Ward, and fell behind 3-2 after two.
The Bears came out on fire in the third and got goals from Kyle Wilson (2:33) and Andrew Gordon (5:08) to take a 4-3 lead.
Again, they couldn't put the Phantoms away.
Patrick McNeill took an interference penalty with 2:43 left. Hershey killed it off, even though much of it was played with Riopel pulled and the Phantoms with a 6-to-4 skaters advantage.
But after McNeill came out of the box, Laliberte tied it with 36 seconds left.
Kane, one of the Bears' leaders, took a 4-minute roughing penalty in overtime, leading to a 2-minute penalty kill that Hershey survived.
In fact, the Bears have killed off all 36 penalties against them over the last nine games. They lead the AHL in penalty kill success.
Still, they lost in the shootout.
"We can't be satisfied with one point," said Gordon. "That's not what the Hershey Bears are all about."
The Bears have a solid hold on first place in the American Hockey League's Eastern Division, with 30 points and a 14-6-0-2 record. They are five points up on Binghamton and Albany.
Adirondack improves to 9-9-1-0 (19 points).
Defenseman Zach Miskovic had three assists for the Bears. Laliberte, sent down by the Flyers earlier this week, had one goal and two assists for the Phantoms.
Defenseman Danny Syvret, also sent down by the Flyers, didn't have a point but was a plus-4 for Adirondack.
Notes: Five regulars in the Phantoms' lineup didn't play either due to callup or injury. They were Jared Ross, Andreas Nodl, Jon Kalinski (all on recall to Flyers), Joonas Lehtivuori (lower body injury), and Josh Beaulieu (upper body). ...
It was the third straight home loss for the Bears, who came in tied for second in the AHL with 73 goals scored. ... The Phantoms had scored a league-low 36 goals prior to Saturday night. ...
Hershey's Alexandre Giroux, Karl Alzner, Jay Beagle and Mathieu Perreault remain on recall to the Washington Capitals. ...
Flyers' GM Paul Holmgren and assistant GM John Paddock attended the game. ... The Bears host Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins at 5 p.m. today.
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