1. Bye Burakovsky. Touted forward Touted forward Andre Burakovsky didn't record any points in a two-game stint with Hershey, but the 2013 first-rounder did generate a wow factor and had seven shots.

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He's a dynamic player," Bears head coach Troy Mann said. "Certainly, you can see his skill level and his speed. He certainly needs to manage the puck better. You could see he was trying to do too much at times and had some turnovers. Overall, certainly if there comes a point when he comes back down to Hershey, we'll welcome him with open arms."

Mann said Burakovsky and Aaron Volpatti, who had been on a conditioning assignment, were slated to rejoin the Washington Capitals. Volpatti played three games for Hershey.

Burakovsky, who wore Washington teammate Michael Latta's old No. 15 in Hershey, was sent to the AHL Friday for a short stint to get some playing time.

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It's been two good days here," Burakovsky said. "I really enjoyed to be here and play. It's a real tough league. It's not easy to get out there. You have to be prepared and ready all the time. It's really hard and tough. It's good players here. I'm real excited to head back to Washington and, hopefully, get back in pretty soon and play some games and stay there.

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I was expecting the league to be really tough and it was really, really tough. The guys are hitting each other and skating hard. You didn't have a lot of time out there. I think it was a little bit faster than I thought it should be."

2. Overtime odyssey. Burakovsky got to experience 3-on-3 play in the AHL's OT format. Mann had the centerman out with winger Chris Conner and defenseman Connor Carrick.

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That was kind of cool," Burakovsky said. "I was playing a lot in overtime, so I was kind of tired when we were playing 3-on-3. I think if I wasn't real tired I would have had a lot of ice to skate on, so it could be pretty interesting."

Springfield's T.J. Tynan scored the game-winner on a breakaway with 29.2 seconds left in OT.

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You're just trying to get as much skill and speed as you can out there in those overtime sessions," Mann said. "Unfortunately, when it comes down to that 3-on-3, it just becomes man-on-man.

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We just lost coverage there for a split-second and that's what happens. It's too bad. I thought we played a pretty solid game against one of the better teams in the conference."

3. Goal woes. Hershey's offensive anemia continued against Springfield. The Bears have scored two or fewer goals in 18 of their 29 games (62.1 percent).

Hershey amassed a combined 67 shots in losses to Springfield and Lehigh Valley (2-0 Friday night) . A Chandler Stephenson goal against Springfield was all the Bears had to show for often dynamic puck movement.

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One thing as a coaching staff, you can't teach guys to put pucks in the net," Mann said. "As a coaching staff, you can control neutral zone play, D-zone coverage and work ethic, special teams -- all those components that I think we're very good at.

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At the end of the day, it's the player that has to put the puck in the net. If it's not going in, it's pretty hard as a coaching staff to tap it in for them, so to speak. We've just got to stick with it."

4. Springfield PK. Springfield's penalty kill, ranked 21st in the AHL (81.1 percent), held Hershey's No. 8 power play (18.9 percent) 0-for-4. The Falcons keyed on Stan Galiev, who ranks second in the AHL in power play goals (seven).

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Their special teams aren't overwhelming in terms of where they are in the league standings, but I thought they were very aggressive," Mann said.

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The first couple power plays, I thought we just got outworked. I thought the third one was much better, but they were keying up on Galiev there. He just wasn't getting his shot off there. We didn't make the proper adjustments there. Overall, the power play was just a little bit out of sync."

5. Break time. The Bears will now get five full days off for the Christmas break. They will resume work for Friday's morning skate before hosting Lehigh Valley Friday night.

The second-place Bears (14-11-3-1, 32 points) are a point ahead of third-place Lehigh Valley (13-10-4-1, 31 points) in the East Division. Lehigh Valley has a game in hand.

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I'd say about 75 percent of the team is leaving to go visit with their families," Mann said. "It's a good time for them to kind of recharge and reset, so to speak.

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Maybe from an offensive perspective, with some goal totals not really where we want them to be, maybe some guys will come back and maybe all of a sudden the offensive game in terms of our goals for changes in our favor, because it's certainly the Achilles' heel of the team. I really believe how we play in a lot of the other components of the game that if we could just get even half a goal a game more, we could certainly win the division and be near the top of the conference."