Bears Fall 4-3 to Penguins in Overtime

May 5, 2026

The Hershey Bears (3-2) battled back from an initial 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead, but ultimately fell 4-3 in overtime to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (2-1) in Game 3 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals on Tuesday night at GIANT Center. Hershey now trails Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Wilkes-Barre/Scranton jumped out to a 1-0 lead 3:15 into the first period with a goal from Phil Kemp with the club's second shot of the contest. Mikhail Ilyin added to the visitors' lead just over three minutes later at 6:16 on the Penguins' third shot.
• Ivan Miroshnichenko cut the deficit in half for Hershey with his first of the postseason at 9:49. Henrik Rybinski and Ryan Chesley assisted on the goal; for Chesley, the game marked his postseason debut after missing the final game of the regular season and Hershey's first four playoff contests.
• Bogdan Trineyev scored for the second consecutive game and collected his third of the playoffs at 18:09 to draw Hershey level. The goal extended Trineyev's point streak for the current postseason to five games (3g, 3a). Linemates Ilya Protas and Andrew Cristall assisted on the goal, likewise extending Protas' point streak to five games (2g, 4a) and Cristall's to four contests (2g, 4a).
• Brett Leason gave the Bears their first lead of the evening with his second of the playoffs just 37 seconds into the middle frame, with Grant Cruikshank and Sam Bitten assisting.
• The Penguins tied the score at 3-3 in the waning minutes of the third period with goaltender Sergei Murashov pulled for an extra skater, with Avery Hayes drawing Wilkes-Barre/Scranton level at 17:07.
• Rutger McGroarty gave the Penguins the win at 5:03 of the first overtime period, deflecting Sebastian Aho's shot from the point past Clay Stevenson.
• The game was Hershey's first overtime contest of the 2026 postseason and its first on home ice since winning Game 6 of the 2024 Calder Cup Finals.
• Bears captain Aaron Ness skated in his 75th career playoff game with the Bears, passing Ralph Keller for first in club history among defensemen and third overall behind forwards Chris Bourque (106) and Mike Nykoluk (103).

SHOTS ON GOAL: HER - 29; WBS - 27

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 23-for-27; WBS - Sergei Murashov, 26-for-29

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-2; WBS - 0-for-1

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on the team pressuring Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the offensive zone and how that is the style that will lead to success:
"The best version of us is when we're playing like that. We're playing faster, we're getting pucks behind them, we're getting on the forecheck, finishing our checks, causing turnovers, and then we have our [offensive zone] time. But I think we kind of got away from that for a little bit and for some reason, and we'll have to chat with them tomorrow and figure out why. But hey, Thursday comes, we've got nothing to lose. We just got to go out and play, leave it all on the ice for three periods, play like we did when we tied it up and even went ahead and see where it takes us."

Bears captain Aaron Ness on moving on from the loss:
"It's frustrating. Everybody wants to win. It's a tight game all the way through. I think two good hockey teams, so they found a way there in overtime and now we move on. [...] I think that's kind of the thing with playoffs is you have a short memory. You hear that a lot and it's true. I mean, we got a game in another couple of days, so it's just, you know, Kinger said after the game and he's right, we still haven't played our best yet, and what we can do and we have to clean some things up again. We will tomorrow and go back at it again."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2026 Calder Cup Playoffs when they host Game 4 of the Atlantic Division Semifinals against the Penguins on Thursday, May 7, at 7 p.m. at GIANT Center. The first 6,000 fans will receive a fan clapper, thanks to Penn State Health, Pepsi, and Shippensburg University. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.