Screen cap: AHLTV

The Hershey Bears gave up five unanswered goals in the second period and fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 7-3, Sunday afternoon at the Giant Center in Hershey. Hendrix Lapierre scored his 6th goal of the season in the loss. The Bears record drops to 14-5-2-0 (30 points) on the season.

HERSHEY BEARS LINEUP

Zach Fucale (8-4-0, .912 sv%, 2.00 GAA) got the start in goal for the Bears. Filip Lindberg (3-3-0 .904 sv%, 2.67 GAA) got the start between the pipes for the Penguins. The forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears: 

Mike Vecchione –Mike Sgarbossa – Ethen Frank
Henrik Borgstrom – Connor McMichael – Sam Anas
Mason Morelli – Hendrix Lapierre – Henrik Rybinski
Kale Kessy – Riley Sutter – Shane Gersich

Gabriel Carlsson – Aaron Ness
Bobby Nardella – Dylan McIlrath
Lucas Johansen – Vinny Iorio

Scratches: Hunter Shepard (Not available to the team), Jake Massie, Garrett Pilon (lower body injury), Julian Napravnik, Logan Day, Matthew Strome.

The Hershey Bears announced on Sunday that they have signed goaltender Justin Kapelmaster to a professional tryout agreement (PTO).

FIRST PERIOD

The Bears opened the scoring on a beautiful give-and-go between Connor McMichael and Sam Anas. Anas finished with the tally just 1:19 into the contest for his 5th goal of the season. Connor McMichael (1), and Henrik Borgstrom (6) had the assists.

Beautiful give-and-go between Connor McMichael and Sam Anas. Anas finishes. Bears lead 1-0. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/AwOoraEhXT

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 4, 2022

The Penguins tied the game midway through the period immediately following a Bears power play. Filip Hållander (7) notched the game-tying tally at 10:02. Ty Smith (7) and Mitch Reinke (5) had the helpers.

The Bears re-gained the lead on a power play goal from Hendrix Lapierre (6) at 12:05 of the first frame. Zach Fucale (1) had the lone assist.

Hendrix Lapierre with a sweet deke and snipe on the power play. His 6th goal of the season. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/UIPChRuLZQ

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 4, 2022

But the Penguins answered with their own power play marker minutes later. Alex  Nylander (7) notched the tying tally at 16:16 of the period. Drew O’Connor (9) had the lone assist.

The Bears would strike in the closing minutes of the opening frame. Mike Sgarbossa potted his 5th tally of the season to make it 3-2. It would be the final tally for the Bears in the game.

Mike Sgarbossa makes it 3-2 late in the first frame. #HBH pic.twitter.com/GABRSqLtj1

— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) December 4, 2022

The period ended with the Bears leading, 3-2. Wilkes-Barre led in shots 14-9 in the first 20 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored five unanswered goals in the second period to essentially put the game away.

The Baby Pens tied the game just 11 seconds into their first power play of the middle frame. This time it would be Valtteri Puustinen (8) to notch the tying tally at 0:42 of the second period.

The Penguins took their first lead of the game less than a minute later with a goal from Mitch Reinke (1) at 1:34 of the period.

The Penguins would make it 5-3 just 33 seconds later. Drew O’Connor (6) potted the Pens 5th tally at 2:07.

The Penguins made it 6-2 just 89 seconds later on a goal from Jonathan Gruden (4) at 3:36 of the second period.

They would make it 7-3 at 7:49 of the period. Tyler Sikura (3) scored the Penguins 7th tally at 7:59.

Zach Fucale was replaced by the newly signed (PTO) Justin Kapelmaster following the Sikura goal.

The second period ended with the Baby Pens leading 7-3. The Penguins led in shots 10-9 in the middle frame and 24-18 after two periods. They scored five goals on 10 shots.

THIRD PERIOD

The Bears and Penguins skated to a scoreless draw in the final frame.

Wilkes-Barre led in shots 7-3 in the final frame and 31-24 for the three periods.

The Bears are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Charlotte Checkers at Giant Center. Puck drop is set for 7PM.

SHAVINGS

• AHL box score