Bears Fall Behind Early in 5-2 Loss to Wolf Pack

February 10, 2018

The Hershey Bears fell into a 5-0 deficit for the third consecutive game, and dropped a 5-2 decision to the Hartford Wolf Pack in front of a sold-out crowd 10,574 at Giant Center on Saturday night. Dustin Gazley scored for the second straight game, but the Wolf Pack spoiled the debuts of Joe Whitney and Adam Chapie, acquired Friday from the New York Rangers. 

Nathan Walker was whistled for a tripping infraction only 1:04 in, and the Wolf Pack wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Just 26 seconds into the power play, Cole Schneider stood at the net front and redirected a center-point drive by Vince Pedrie into the net to make it 1-0. 

Eric Selleck doubled his club's lead at the 3:15 mark. After Copley was unable to gather a rolling puck through the blue paint, Selleck crashed the net and cleaned up the loose change for his third goal of the season.

At 7:02, Copley's night ended after yielding his third goal. With open ice during 4-on-4 play, the Wolf Pack transitioned and executed a crisp passing play. Cristoval Nieves sent a cross-ice pass from the left wing to a trailing Ryan Sproul, who beat Copley with a quick snapshot to make it 3-0. 

Only 1:01 later, Hartford welcomed Vitek Vanecek into the game with a goal on the first shot he faced. On an abbreviated power play, Ryan Gropp jetted through the Hershey defense and sent a perfect pass across to Steven Fogarty, joining him on the attack. Fogarty one-timed a shot past a sprawling Vanecek to make it 4-0 Wolf Pack.

The Wolf Pack lead grew to five courtesy of their third power play goal at 1:08 of the second period. Hershey started the period on the penalty kill for four minutes due to a Jeremy Langlois high-sticking double minor at the previous period's conclusion. Scott Kosmachuk made them pay as he finished a tic-tac-toe passing play in the low-slot after a pass from Filip Chytil. 

With Hershey trailing 5-0, similar to the previous night in Lehigh Valley, Dustin Gazley broke the opposition's shutout bid. At 12:14, Gazley finished a scoring chance from the low-slot from Tyler Graovac and Aaron Ness.

Down four goals into the third period, the Bears would earn one more back.  At 3:18, Liam O'Brien tucked a wraparound attempt into the cage, beating Brandon Halverson to the left post. The goal was O'Brien's ninth marker of the season, and first since Dec. 27. 

Hershey finished the night 0-for-5 on the man-advantage and 2-for-5 on the penalty kill. It marked the seventh consecutive game the Bears have allowed a power play goal against. Halverson stopped 31 of 33 Hershey shots in his team's victory. Final shot totals for the night was 33-23 for the Bears. 

Hershey falls to 18-25-3-4 in the defeat, while Hartford improves to 24-20-4-3.

The Bears complete their latest three in three stretch tomorrow at Giant Center against the Rochester Americans. It's Chocolate Covered February, and all fans will receive candy upon exiting the facility after the game. Puck drop is slated for 7 p.m. Ticket information is available at HersheyBears.com.