Hershey Bears Crush Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6-1, Tobias Geisser Scores First AHL Goal

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Michael Fleetwood
Photo: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

The Hershey Bears crushed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6-1 on Wednesday evening in their final game of 2021. The victory moves the Bears’ record to 14-9-2-1 on the season and a 5-0-0-0 start to their season set against the Penguins.

SUMMARY
The Bears and Penguins would end the first frame with no score, though the Chocolate and White finished the first 20 minutes with an 11-5 shot advantage. The second saw Hershey strike four times on goals from Tobias Geisser, Marcus Vela, and Mason Morelli. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would fail to convert on a power play but scored with 17.4 seconds to cut the Bears’ lead to three. The third period would see the Bears add an additional two goals and finish the game with a 6-1 victory. The two teams combined for 26 penalty minutes, with the Bears allotting 20 of them. Hershey finished with the lead in shots 34-20.

STARTERS
The Bears started goaltender Hunter Shepard (1-1-0-0, 3.01 GAA, .882) in net while the Penguins started Alex D’Orio.

1ST PERIOD

The first period of play in Chocolatetown was rather uneventful, with neither team seeing power play time nor scoring on the opposing netminder. Defenseman Dylan McIlrath (Hershey) and Nick Hutchinson were both sent to the sin bin for matching, double-minor roughing calls, after a post-whistle play. The two teams skated to the dressing room with the Bears holding the advantage in shots 11-5.

2ND PERIOD

After a scorelesss opening frame, the Bears took the lead early in the second as Tobias Geisser scored his first career American Hockey League goal to give the Chocolate and White the lead; Macoy Erkamps and Mason Morelli picked up assists on the play.

The hosts would take a 2-0 advantage on a goal from Marcus Vela, who scored his first goal as a member of the Bears after signing a professional tryout offer with the team prior to their last game on December 21; the play was assisted by Ryan Dmowski and Bobby Nardella.

Less than two minutes later, Morelli would add his fourth goal of the season to improve Hershey’s lead to a commanding 3-0 at the 7:21 mark.

The Penguins would receive a chance to cut the Bears’ lead to two goals when Vela was called for holding at the 13:40 mark of the frame, however they were unable to convert. With under a minute left, defenseman Bobby Nardella scored his fourth goal of the season with helpers from Morellie and Shane Gersich. The Penguins’ Jan Drozg scored with 17 seconds left on the board to cut the lead to 4-1.

The two teams headed to the dressing rooms with the Bears leading 4-1 and holding the shot advantage 26-16.

3RD PERIOD

The Bears piled on another tally early in the final frame on Dylan McIlrath’s second goal of the season; the goal was assisted by Gersich and Morelli.

Dmowski would add his seventh goal of the season and the fifth consecutive game with a goal just over a minute later, giving the Chocolate and White a dominating 6-1 lead.

Things would heat up at the 8:26 mark of the final frame after a hit delivered by Kale Kessy resulted in a response by the Penguins’ Josh Maniscalco; Kessy was handed a 10-minute Unsportsmanlike Misconduct, a two-minute roughing, and two-minute charging penalty, while Maniscalco received a minor for roughing. Dmowski served the two minor penalties.

The two teams would not add to their respective goal totals, ending regulation with a 6-1 Hershey victory.

ICE SHAVINGS
– AHL Box Score
– The Bears begin the season set against the Penguins 5-0-0-0 for the first time in franchise history
– Tobias Geisser scored his first AHL goal
– Ryan Dmowski now has nine points (6G, 3A) in his past five games
– Mason Morelli recorded four points (1G, 3A)

About Michael Fleetwood

Michael Fleetwood was born into a family of diehard Capitals fans and has been watching games as long as he can remember. He was born the year the Capitals went to their first Stanley Cup Final, and is a diehard Caps fan, the owner of the very FIRST Joe Beninati jersey and since then, has met Joe himself. Michael joined the NoVa Caps team in 2015, and is most proud of the growth of the NoVa Caps community in that time. An avid photographer, Michael resides in VA.
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1 Response to Hershey Bears Crush Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6-1, Tobias Geisser Scores First AHL Goal

  1. Anonymous says:
    December 29, 2021 at 10:17 pm

    Wait until they get some players back. This team is solid. They just need to get through this short-term staffing issue.

    Reply

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