Photo: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
The Hershey Bears fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 2-1 Sunday afternoon at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre. Shane Gersich tied a career-high in goals with his 10th of the season, but it wasn’t enough. The loss drops the Bears record to 18-11-3-2 (41 points) on the season.
Following a fruitless first frame, the Penguins opened the scoring with a power play goal early in the second period. The Bears would answer in the waning moments of the second with a goal from Shane Gersich to tie the game 1-1 at the second intermission. The Penguins would retake the lead midway through the final frame and hang on for the 2-1 victory.
STARTERS
The Bears started goaltender Pheonix Copley (9-6-2-1, 2.79 GAA, .896 sv%) in net, while the Penguins countered with Tommy Nappier (02-4-2-0, 3.54 GAA, .880 sv%) in goal. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:
Injuries: Matt Moulson (upper-body injury), Eddie Whittchow (lower-body injury) and Bobby Nardella (lower-body injury).
Scratches: Macoy Erkamps, Christopher Brown, Colby McAuley and Marcus Vela were the scratches.
COVID Protocol: Beck Malenstyn.
FIRST PERIOD
The Bears and Penguins skated to a scoreless first frame.
Shots were tied 7-7. There were no power plays in the first period.
SECOND PERIOD
The Pens opened the scoring with a power play goal from Alex Nylander (10) at 5:25 of the middle frame. Sam Poulin (5) and Pierre-Olivier Joseph (12) had the assists.
#WBSPens Goal Video – Alex Nylander breaks the scoreless tie pic.twitter.com/yQ4QNZKcM6
— WBS Penguins (@WBSPenguins) January 16, 2022
But the Bears would answer in the waning moments of the second period. Shane Gersich (10) would jam-home his 10th of the season to tie the score 1-1. Lucas Johansen (7) had the lone assist.
Shane Gersich is en fuego! His 10th of the season. Wins the draw and then jams it home. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/9TDGfHemIm
— Jon Sorensen (@jon_m_sorensen) January 16, 2022
Gersich ties a career high in goals (10g, 66 games in 2019-20 season) He’s recorded 10 goals in less than half the games (32).
Gersich’s shooting percentage has steadily increased his four years in the AHL: 6.4%, 13.2%, 13.3% and 16.9%.
The period would conclude with the game tied 1-1. The Penguins led in shots 9-6 in the middle frame. Hershey was 0 for 1 and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 1 for 3 on the power play after two periods.
THIRD PERIOD
The Penguins recaptured the lead midway through the final frame with a goal from Patrick Watling (1) at 9:17 of the third period. Nathan Legare (5) had the lone assist.
The Penguins would hang-on the rest of the way for the 2-1 win.
The Bears are back in action on Saturday when they host the Hartford Wolf Pack. Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM.
SHAVINGS
- AHL box score
- Attendance: 3,702
- Penguins led in shots 26-24.
- Shane Gersich and Drake Rymsha led the Bears in shots with 4 each.
- This was the Penguins first victory over the Bears in eight games this season.
