Penguins Down Bears 5-1

The Hershey Bears (6-7-0-2) fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 5-1 Sunday night at the Giant Center in Hershey. The Bears took 4 of 6 points for the week. The Bears return to action on Wednesday when they host the Syracuse Crunch. Puck drop is 7:00PM.

Vitek Vanecek got the start in goal for the Bears. This was Vanecek’s first start of the season, following an injury in training camp. Casey DeSmith (6-0-1, 2.07 GAA, .931 sv%, 1 SO) got the start for the Penguins. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears.

Bourque-Boyd-Simpson
Gazley-Langlois-Barber
O’Brien-Sill-Mitchell
Bau-Gustafsson-Peluso
Siegenthaler-Williams
Johansen-Lewington
Geiger-Labrie

Bears Scratches – Adam Carlson, Kristofers Bindulis, Connor Hobbs, John Albert and Mason Mitchell.

FIRST PERIOD
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would strike quickly with a five-hole shot by Jarred Tinordi just 1:41 into the contest.

The Pens would stretch the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal by Zach Aston-Reese, also beating Vanecek five-hole, at 7:38 of the opening frame.

The period would end with the Penguins leading 2-0. The Bears led in shots on goal 8-6 for the opening 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD
The Bears would open the period with 1:57 remaining on a power play, but could not convert. The Bears would let another man-advantage slip through the cracks within the first seven minutes of the middle frame.

Tyler Lewington and Garrett Wilson would drop the gloves midway through the second period.

The Bears would head back to the power play at the 10:15 mark, when the Pens Jarred Tinordi was called for tripping. This time the Bears would cash in. Dustin Gazley would register his first goal of the season at the 11:58 mark of the middle frame, making it 2-1.

Unfortuantely, shortly thereafter the Penguins would get their two-goal lead right back with a goal by former Caps prospect Thomas DiPauli at 12:56 of the second period.

Just one minute later Daniel Sprong would make it 4-1 for the Penguins, at 13:56.

The period would end with the Penguins leading 4-1. The Bears outshot the Penguins 12-4 for the second period and 20-10 after two periods of play.

THIRD PERIOD
The third period was much of the same. The Bears drastically outshot the Penguins (7-1 through the first 10 minutes), but were unable to find the back of the net.

The Penguins’ Daniel Sprong was awarded a penalty shot 1:06 into the final frame, but his shot would ring off the pipe.

The Bears would pull Vanecek on a late power play opportunity, making it a 6-on-4 man advantage but the Bears would be unable to convert. The Pens would add an empty net goal to make it 5-1 at the 15:10 mark.

Game highlights: