HERSHEY -- For a guy who's a fan of scary movies, Jason Bacashihua picked just the right weekend to frighten his opponents.

One night after turning away all 26 shots he faced in his first shutout of the season, Bacashihua stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced Saturday, backstopping the Hershey Bears to a 4-1 victory over the Albany River Rats at Giant Center.

But while Bacashihua's goalie mask is decorated with the Jason character from the "Friday the 13th" movies, it was his glove that made the difference early in the game.

On the game's first shift, the Rivers Rats managed a quick rush that ended with Pat Dwyer getting off a shot from point-blank range after linemate Zach Boychuk had pulled Bacashihua across the net.

But even as Dwyer was starting to raise his hands in celebration, Bacashihua was holding up his glove hand, and the puck was firmly in the pocket.

"It was a good save," Bacashihua said. "The puck was in my glove. I had my pad and glove there, and he shot it right in the glove. A lot of people didn't know where it went, they thought it went in, I guess, but it didn't."

And as for Dwyer's premature celebration?

"Those are always the best saves," Bacashihua said, "when they think they scored and you stopped them."

Hershey coach Mark French was quick to point to that save as one of the major turning points of the game.

"That first save he made, that was the result of a big breakdown," said French. "That's probably the turning point of the


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game. I know they went ahead 1-0 but if they'd have scored there, it might have made a big difference in the game."

The River Rats took the lead -- and Dwyer got a measure of revenge -- just past the midway point in the opening period scoring on a short-handed breakaway.

Francois Bouchard got Hershey even when he snapped a Mathieu Perreault pass by Albany goalie Justin Peters to tie the game with 39 seconds left in the first.

Andrew Gordon put the Bears in front for good at 9:01 of the second period with a power-play goal, and Oskar Osala made it 3-1 with a little less than two minutes left.

The Bears killed off a Rats' 5-on-3 power play lasting 1:39.

The successful penalty kill gave Hershey a needed boost, and Boyd Kane completed the scoring with 15 seconds left when he shot the puck into an empty net.