Admirals drop second straight to Hershey – this time in shootout

NORFOLK

It was better. Not quite good enough to get a win, but better nonetheless.

Hershey scored three times in the shootout to survive the Norfolk Admirals 4-3 on Saturday night in a high-level affair at Scope.

Unlike Friday night’s season opener, when the Admirals were generally outplayed by the Bears in a 5-3 defeat, the two teams battled evenly throughout Saturday’s rematch in a game that had a late-season feel to it.

The third period featured the Admirals’ best sustained play of the season as they consistently carried the play to the Bears and got pucks on net. They also used goals by Brandon Segal and Zenon Konopka to erase a pair of one-goal deficits over the final 20 minutes.

Admirals goaltender Karri Ramo preserved the regulation tie with a lunging glove save of an Alexandre Giroux wrister with less than a minute left.

Norfolk appeared set to win it early in the first overtime when Blair Jones broke in 2-on-1 and fed an open Paul Szczechura. But Szczechura’s shot sailed wide of the net. The Admirals were also unable to convert despite a one-minute power play after Graham Mink was sent off for tripping.

In the shootout, Giroux, Francois Bouchard and Keith Aucoin all got shots past Ramo. Only Wyatt Smith was able to answer for the Admirals; Brandon Bochenski, Szczechura and Radek Smolenak were all denied.

Smolenak opened the game’s scoring with a power-play goal at 4:20 of the first period. Aucoin answered for the Bears just less than five minutes before the first intermission.

A wide-open, end-to-end second period appeared destined to end with neither team scoring until Bouchard lifted the puck from Admirals rookie defenseman Scott Jackson in front of the Norfolk net and beat Ramo at 18:23.

The Bears outshot the Admirals 27-25. Hershey was 1 of 6 on the power play, while the Admirals went 1 for 5.

Hershey improved to 3-0, with all victories coming on the road. The Bears and Admirals won’t meet again until Nov. 30 in Hershey.

Notes: Center Bracken Kearns sat out Saturday’s game with a lower body injury he sustained during Friday’s season-opening loss . Kearns is listed as day-to-day. ... The Admirals dealt defenseman Justin Fletcher to Peoria.