HERSHEY — To most of us, when a goalie records a shutout in hockey, it appears that he's at the top of his game.

It must mean that he's feeling sharp, quick, on top of the play and anticipating every shot.

To a goalie, to a degree, that's true.

But Braden Holtby, Hershey's goalie, said he can have the same feeling when he gives up two or three goals in a game.

Huh?

"Shutouts are misleading because in many games, there are shots that go in that you can't do anything about," he said. "It has to do a lot with luck and the way the team plays in front of you. We did a great job tonight."

Not sure how much luck played into it, but both Holtby and Hershey's defense were stout on Wednesday night.

Holtby turned in his second shutout in his last three games and third this season to lead the Bears to a 4-0 win over the Norfolk Admirals, on a night when the Bears inducted seven people into their new Hershey Bears Hockey Club Hall of Fame at the Giant Center.

The game was played in front of a Hersheypark ticket-induced crowd of 10,936, a regular-season Giant Center record.

Holtby made 35 saves to push his record to 11-8-1 and the Bears to 14-12-1-1. For the first time this season, Hershey is two games over .500. The shutout was the 13th of Holtby's Hershey career, placing him fifth on the team's all-time list.

Hershey got goals from Mattias Sjogren, Ryan Potulny, Tomas Kundratek and Boyd Kane. The Bears shut down all four of Norfolk's power plays and came up with two power-play goals.

Sjogren tipped Julien Brouillette's right point shot to give Hershey a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Holtby got his stellar night going in the first with point-blank saves on Patrick Maroon (twice) and Emerson Etem.

The Bears got off to a slow start offensively in the second period but picked it up and that resulted in Potulny's goal, which came on a rebound of Jeff Taffe's shot. Taffe's assist gave him at least one in his last seven straight games, the longest active streak in the AHL.

There was no early-period slump for the Bears in the third. They came out aggressively, determined not to sit on their two-goal lead.

"Our starts in second periods seem to be becoming a trend," said Hershey coach Mark French. "We'll make a bad play and that gives opponents momentum and that leads to a long shift and it's hard to get off the ice. As for the third, when you have a two-goal lead, often that first 10 minutes of the third period becomes very important. If you can keep them off the scoreboard, there's a sense of defeat that comes into play."

Taffe saw Kundratek coming down the slot on the power play in the third and his perfect pass set up the goal that made it 3-0. Kane scored the fourth goal in the game's final seconds.

"We've turned things around the last 10-12 games and we're playing much better hockey," said Kane, the team captain. "Our team is digging in and getting it done when it needs to. Everyone is playing well defensively."

Notes: The Bears host Springfield at 7 p.m. Saturday.