BEARS BATTLE PAST PENGUINS IN SHOOTOUT

January 3, 2015

HERSHEY, Pa. – Pheonix Copley made 25 saves in regulation and overtime and made all five saves in his first career shootout, helping the Hershey Bears to a 2-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 10,882 fans at GIANT Center.
 
After a scoreless first period, the Bears got the jump early in the second.  Kris Newbury would work the puck up high to Erik Burgdoerfer, who took a wrist shot from the left point.  The shot sailed past a Philippe Cornet screen and past Jeff Zatkoff at 5:10 for a 1-0 advantage.
 
The Penguins battled back and tied the game when an open Matia Marcantuoni watched a puck bounce off of the side glass right to him in the slot.  He took a snap shot that beat Copley at 9:06.
 
That would be all the scoring to be had through regulation and overtime.  The overtime period featured two three-on-three situations, as penalties to Stanslav Galiev and Tom Kostopoulos carried into the extra session. 
 
Cornet, returning after sitting last three games out, was the hero in the shootout as the winger was the only one to beat Zatkoff.  In the last of the fifth round, his snap shot flew past the glove of the Penguins goaltender, and Copley followed that up with a right pad save on Kostopoulos to nab the win.
 
Copley improves to 6-3-1 with the win, while Zatkoff drops to 11-6-2, making 28 saves in regulation and overtime and four in the shootout.
 
The Bears will travel to New York’s Capital District for the first time this season, and will battle the Albany Devils on Friday, January 9.  Faceoff from Times Union Center is set for 7:00 PM.  Fans may listen to the M&C Foreign Car Parts pre-game show beginning at 6:20 PM on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WTKT-AM 1460, WOYK-AM 1350 and the iHeart Radio application for smartphones (1460 AM).
 
The Bears return home to host the Norfolk Admirals on Saturday, January 10 at 7:00 PM.  The first 5,000 fans will get a Nathan Walker snow globe courtesy of Metro Bank.  Individual tickets for this and all remaining home games are available at the GIANT Center box office, online at TicketMaster.com or by calling 717-508-BEAR.
 
NOTES: The Bears scratched C Joel Broda, D Michal Cajkovsky, G Philipp Grubauer, D Mike Moore, C Jim O’Brien, LW Tim Spencer, LW Nathan Walker and D Patrick Wey…The Penguins scratched RW Patrick McGrath, C Adam Payerl, D Clark Seymour, C Zack Torquato and LW Anton Zlobin…The Bears finished the night 0-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill… Three stars: 3-Zatkoff, 2-Burgdoerfer, 1-Copley…Hershey scored their league-leading 23rd first-goal on Burgdoerfer’s tally…The Bears improved to 5-2-2-0 against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season, winning their third 2-1 decision against their arch-rivals.