Bears Blanked by Penguins in Series Opener

May 4, 2016

HERSHEY, Pa. – Rookie Daniel Sprong scored twice and Casey DeSmith stopped all 33 shots faced, helping the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to a 4-0 win over the Hershey Bears on Wednesday night at GIANT Center.

Sprong got things started just 45 seconds into the game, giving Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 1-0 lead.  Splitting the Hershey defense, the rookie collected a Dustin Jeffrey feed, broke in and sent a snap shot over the glove of Justin Peters for his fourth goal of the playoffs.

Peters settled his team down from there, denying a total of 17 shots in the period – including a penalty shot awarded to Jake Guentzel when Aaron Ness covered a loose puck in Peters’ goal crease with 56.3 seconds remaining.

Another goal inside the first minute of the second period gave the Penguins a two-goal advantage.  It took only 14 seconds this time for Ryan Parent to take a shot from the left point, and for Carter Rowney to get in front of it and tip it past Peters.

The Bears had several chances on rebounds left by DeSmith but either missed open nets or had shots turned aside.

A second penalty shot would be awarded on the night, this time for Hershey, when Nathan Walker was hauled down by Tim Erixon on a breakaway chance at 4:39 of the third period.  Video replay was consulted but the net was knocked off before the puck and bodies entered.  DeSmith would then deny Walker one-on-one.

Minutes later the Penguins’ earned third power play of the night, and the visitors made it a 3-0 game when Sprong fired a high slap shot from the left circle that hit the upper-right corner of the net at 7:04.  Peters would be pulled in favor of a sixth attacker with over four minutes left in the period, and the Bears earned a power play chance to put the hosts on a six-on-four situation.  But ending the momentum was Tom Kostopoulos, who hit the empty net at 17:07 to round out the scoring.

Peters saw his record level at 3-3 with 27 saves on 30 shots, while DeSmith improved to 4-0 in the postseason.  The Bears finished the night 0-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The teams will meet in Chocolatetown for game two of the Atlantic Division Finals on Friday, May 6 at 7:00 PM.  The first 5,000 fans will receive ThunderStix courtesy of Capital BlueCross.  Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling (717) 508-BEAR, and online at TicketMaster.com.

NOTES: The Bears suffered their first home-ice shutout since November 14 by Bridgeport’s Christopher Gibson…Hershey was perfect on 14 penalty kills on home ice prior to tonight’s game…Peters’ penalty shot save was the first since Dan Ellis denied the Penguins’ Josh Archibald on April 9…It was the seventh penalty shot faced by Bears goaltenders, including the 2015-16 regular season…The Bears scratched LW Paul Carey, G Adam Carlson, RW Dustin Gazley, LW Dylan Margonari, LW Domenic Monardo, D Mike Moore and D Colby Williams…The Penguins scratched RW Tyler Biggs, LW Sahir Gill, G Sean Maguire, RW Pat McGrath, D Reid McNeill, D Ethan Prow and LW Dominik Uher.