Showing that they firmly believe in the concept of “instant offense”, the Hershey Bears jumped out to an early lead on Friday against the Albany River Rats, eventually cruising to a 3-0 win at Times Union Center.

Starting the scoring trend early, Andrew Gordon netted the first goal of the game only 1:04 into the first period.  Gordon’s goal, his seventh of the year, marked the sixth time this season that the club has lit the lamp in the first three minutes of the game. 

Oskar Osala, tallying for the third straight road game, scored at 3:53 of the second period.  Osala’s goal, his ninth of the season, was assisted by Mathieu Perreault and Francois Bouchard.  Perreault remains the only Bear to register a point in every road game in which the team has scored a goal. Bouchard, assisted by Perreault and Sami Lepisto, went on to score the third, and final, goal of the game, which came at 16:19 of the third period. 

Friday’s contest marked the third start in net for Russian rookie, Simeon Varlamov, who was the Washington Capitals first round draft pick of 2006.  Varlamov, making his first start since October 17, made 19 saves to record his first professional shutout.

Tags: Hershey Bears, Simeon Varlamov