Bears Bounce Back with 6-2 Win Over Penguins

November 29, 2025

Ilya Protas and David Gucciardi had three-point nights, and the Hershey Bears (11-6-1-0) earned a split of their two-game series this week with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (15-5-1-0) via a 6-2 win on Saturday night at GIANT Center.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Graeme Clarke opened the scoring with his fifth of the season at 5:42 of the first period moments after exiting the penalty box. Brett Leason and Ilya Protas earned assists on the goal, extending Protas' point streak to seven games.
• Protas also found the net for the seventh consecutive game at 7:06 with a power-play goal for Hershey after Andrew Cristall stripped Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Jack St. Ivany of the puck at the Penguins blue line and Ivan Miroshnichenko found Protas in the slot with a backhanded drop pass, leading to Protas' ninth of the season. The rookie later added an empty-net goal at 14:10 of the third period to cap a three-point night. Protas has accumulated (8g, 6a) dating back to Nov. 14 at Syracuse and has recorded five multi-point games over that stretch.
• St. Ivany ended up getting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on the board at 16:19 of the frame.
• Sam Bitten gave Hershey a 3-1 lead with his third of the season at 10:17 of the second period; David Gucciardi collected the lone assist on the tally, his third consecutive game with a helper.
• Gucciardi then netted his first of the season at 14:43 from Clarke and Cristall to give Hershey a 4-1 edge.
• Gabe Klassen pulled the Penguins back to within two goals when he scored at 19:24.
• The Penguins replaced goaltender Joel Blomqvist with Sergei Murashov to begin the third period.
• Ivan Miroshnichenko scored a 4-on-3 power-play goal at 4:34 to give the Bears a 5-2 lead, on assists from Gucciardi and Louie Belpedio. Belpedio's assist gave him his fourth consecutive game with a helper, the longest such stretch of any Bears player this season, while Gucciardi's three-point outing represented his first career multi-point game.
• Clay Stevenson made 35 saves to earn his sixth consecutive win.
• Forward Simon Pinard made his Bears debut after being recalled from the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays earlier this morning.

SHOTS: HER 24, WBS 37

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 35-for-37; WBS - Joel Blomqvist [L], 12-for-16, Sergei Murashov, 6-for-7

POWER PLAY: HER - 2-for-6; WBS - 0-for-2

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on what enabled Hershey to get the win against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton contrasted with Wednesday's loss:
"We played two solid periods against that team on Thanksgiving there. And we need to play three good periods. And I thought we did a better job. It wasn't always pretty, but we at least played consistently for three periods. And that's what you have to do against good teams like that."

King on what led to Hershey producing a season-high six goals:
"Well, we defended well. They like to transition and get off the rush and they like to take chances. That's why they're successful, right? And we countered on them pretty quick and we had some good [offensive zone possession] time and pucks just happened to be finding the net."

David Gucciardi on what led to a career-high three-point game:
"I think just staying in every shift and taking it one at a time, as cliché as it sounds, that's kind of the truth and kind of simplifying in the brain, if that makes sense. I think that was kind of the biggest difference for me."

Gucciardi on the team's preparedness:
"We were ready to go from the jump. I think we got a ton of confidence from those last two periods Wednesday night, and we kind of brought that tonight and we were ready to go. We knew we could play with them."

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Laval Rocket on Sunday, Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center for Hockey Fights Cancer Night. All fans in attendance will receive a Hockey Fights Cancer light-up bracelet, presented by Penn State Health. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.