Bears Fall to Penguins 5-1 on Sunday

November 12, 2017

Despite outshooting the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins 32-13, the Hershey Bears fell 5-1 to their I-81 rivals on Sunday night at Giant Center. Hershey's win streak ended at three games, while the Penguins improved their point streak to ten games with the victory. 

Only 2:39 into the game, Jarred Tinordi tallied for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to make it 1-0 Penguins. In goaltender Vitek Vanecek's first game of the season for Hershey, the Penguins hit pay-dirt on their second shot of the night. Tinordi cut into the slot on an offensive zone rush and beat Vanecek through his five-hole to open the scoring. 

At 7:38, the Penguins doubled their lead courtesy of a power play goal from Zach Aston-Reese. Following a tripping minor accessed to Bears' Jonas Siegenthaler, Aston-Reese was left open in the low-slot and scored from in close to make it 2-0.

The 2-0 Penguins lead carried into the second period, despite a Hershey 8-6 shot advantage. On a power play of their own, Hershey capitalized in the middle stanza to cut their deficit in half. Hershey's Colby Williams dumped the puck into the offensive zone. The puck hit the end boards and popped in front of the net, and Hershey forward Dustin Gazley capitalized. Gazley scored his first goal of the season after firing a loose puck past  Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie Casey DeSmith at the 11:58 mark.

Only 58 seconds later, however, Wilkes-Barre restored their two goal lead. On an offensive zone rush, Thomas DiPauli snapped a high wrist shot into the top-shelf past Vanecek for his sixth goal of the season. Andrey Pedan notched the lone assist on the goal. 

With 6:04 left in the period, the speedy Daniel Sprong slipped behind the Hershey defense and stormed down ice on a breakaway. Sprong beat Vanecek low to the ice to push the Pens' advantage to 4-1. Sprong later missed a penalty shot chance in the third period at the 1:06 mark.

Colin Smith added a Penguins empty net goal on their 13th shot of the contest with 3:03 left in regulation to round out a 5-1 final. 

DeSmith was the game's first star, stopping 31 shots, and improving to 7-0-0-1 on the season. Hershey was 1-for-5 on the power play while Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was 1-for-1. 

The Bears return to the ice on Wednesday, November 15 at Giant Center against the Syracuse Crunch. All fans in attendance will receive a complimentary Hersheypark Pass for the second Hersheypark Pass Night of the season.