Nobody at Giant Center Sunday night would have been surprised if this was the night the Hershey Bears didn't win.

The team was riding an eight-game winning streak, so maybe a loss, based on odds alone, was inevitable. The team was playing its third game in three nights and fourth game in five days.

And maybe this was the night the Bears felt the absence of the players recently recalled to the Washington Capitals.

The Bears, however, overcame all negatives. Backed by the solid goaltending of rookie Simeon Varlamov, Hershey scored a pair of third-period goals, with the game-winner coming with 2:10 to play, to defeat the Norfolk Admirals, 3-2.

The victory, Hershey's league-leading 18th, extended the Bears' winning streak to nine games, one short of the team's regular-season record set by the 2001-02 club.

Late in the third, Hershey winger Chris Bourque skated off the boards and sent a backhand shot on goal. Andrew Joudrey saw the shot and redirected it past Norfolk goalie Mike McKenna.

"I just tried to get to the net," said Joudrey, who picked up his second goal of the season. "I got the goalie moving one way and the puck went through the five-hole."

The game was tied at 1-1 after two periods but the Admirals got the go-ahead goal 40 seconds in to the third period when Mathieu Curadeau slid the puck under Varlamov, completing a breakaway.

At that point, the winning streak looked doomed. Norfolk was getting the better of the scoring chances and now was leading.

But Hershey had Varlamov on its side and that gave them a chance, despite the fact that they were trailing by a goal.

The Bears were bolstered by their penalty-kill — and Varlamov certainly had a lot to do with it — and they killed off a penalty without allowing a shot five minutes into the third. A considerable feat, with the Admirals sporting the third-best power play in the league entering the game.

"Once in a while, you need your goaltender to win one for you and I thought he did that (tonight)," said Hershey coach Bob Woods.

Hershey got its chance at a power play later in the third and tied the game at 2-2. Keith Aucoin skated behind the Norfolk net and found Alexandre Giroux who had an easy tap-in to beat McKenna.

From there, Hershey's team defense got stronger. With regular defensemen Sami Lepisto, Karl Alzner, Bryan Helmer and Tyler Sloan playing with the Caps, the Bears' six blueliners included three players who have suited up for Hershey nine or fewer times.

Oskar Osala opened the scoring with his 16th goal of the season just 3:01 into the game.

Osala, who leads all AHL rookies in goals this season, was on the receiving end of a pass from Mathieu Perreault who held McKenna's attention just long enough so that McKenna couldn't adjust in time to make the save on Osala.

Varlamov, though, preserved the one-goal lead with some sparkling saves. He thwarted Jason Ward on a breakaway (and stopped Ward's rebound attempt, too) and made other another strong save on Curadeau.

"We're definitely confident when Simeon is in the net," said Hershey defenseman Patrick McNeill. "He may not speak the language, but he knows what he's doing back there."

Varlamov, who is from Samara, Russia, is limited when it comes to English. His nine wins leads all AHL rookie goalies.

The Admirals tied the game early in the second when Hershey defenseman Josh Godfrey let former Bear Grant Potulny drift away from him in front of Varlamov. Brandon Bochenski knocked down a puck on the wall and fed Potulny who easily redirected the puck past Varlamov.

For the most part, though, Varlamov, reprised his first-period performance. He stopped Ward (again) on a shorthanded breakaway and was a key in Hershey's effort to prevent a goal during a 41-second 5-on-3 Norfolk power play midway through the second.

Actually, killing the 5-on-3 was kind of easy. The hard part was the remaining 1:19 of Norfolk's man-advantage time.

For that, Keith Aucoin, Sasha Pokulok and Patrick McNeill did most of the heavy lifting.

"Killing penalties is a not a heroic job by any means, compared to the power play," McNeill said. But guys take pride in not being scored on. When you can kill off a couple of penalties in a big situation like that, it gets everybody on the bench going."

Notes: The Bears had a record of 10-3-1 for the month of November. ... Hershey RW Darren Reid sat out Sunday's game after being sucker-punched by Philadelphia's Garrett Klotz Saturday night. ... Bourque was playing his first game for Hershey since returning from a three-game stint with the Capitals. ... Hershey is off until Hartford comes to the Giant Center Saturday. Then Norfolk returns Sunday.

E-mail: kfreeman@lnpnews.com