Bears Suffer 5-2 Loss to Penguins in Return from Holiday Break

December 27, 2025

The Hershey Bears (14-12-1-0) endured a five-goal blitz from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (22-7-1-1) in the opening frame of Saturday night's 5-2 loss at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Hershey's record in the season series with the Penguins now stands at 1-4-0-0.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• A pair of goals just over a minute and a half apart by the Penguins put the hosts ahead 2-0, as Nolan Renwick (2:04) and Raivis Ansons (3:36) struck for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
• Bogdan Trineyev cut the deficit in half with his seventh of the season from Aaron Ness and Ivan Miroshnichenko at 8:30, but Gabe Klassen scored at 10:58 and 14:40 to chase Garin Bjorklund from the Hershey net.
• Phil Tomasino made it 5-1 at 17:15 to close out the period. Hershey was outshot 13-3 in the opening frame, and its five goals allowed represented the largest total scored in a single period by a Bears opponent this season.
• Ivan Miroshnichenko buried his fifth of the season on a delayed penalty from Spencer Smallman and Ilya Protas at 1:12 of the third period.
• The Bears played shorthanded eight separate times, representing the largest number of penalty kill situations for the club this season.
• Andrew Cristall's point streak came to an end at nine games (2g, 9a) dating back to Nov. 29 vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

SHOTS: HER 21, WBS 21

GOALTENDING: HER - Garin Bjorklund [L], 5-for-9, Clay Stevenson, 11-for-12; WBS - Sergei Murashov, 19-for-21

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-4; WBS - 1-for-8

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Derek King on the team's start and how it responded in the game's final 40 minutes:
"It's not the start we want. We've preached it before. We want to be a team like Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence and stuff like that, you have to play three periods, and that's what that team does, and we didn't - we only played two periods. The second and third, we tried to focus on just playing the right way and doing more of the little things we need to do."

King on the team's start and how it responded in the game's final 40 minutes:
"I think the habit part is getting better. They're not there yet - a lot of the older guys have the good habits because they've had to go through that learning curve, but the young guys still need to work on some of it."

King on the desired style of play that this team thrives in:
"When we're playing quick, and we're playing aggressive on the forecheck, that's when we create a lot of our opportunities. That's the kind of team we need to be, but we need to do that for three periods."

King on a blocked shot by Jon McDonald on a penalty kill in the third period as an example of the team continuing to compete:
"That's what the message was after the first - we've just got to go and compete and play our game, and our game is all of those little things - blocking shots, getting pucks out, banging bodies, putting pucks deep, playing below their goal line, hanging onto pucks, changing at the right time, and I think for the most part we did a really good job of it, it's just that first period [sealed our fate]. And you can't play catch-up hockey against good teams like that."

(Answers edited for clarity)

The Bears continue the 2025-26 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they return home to host the Charlotte Checkers on Sunday, Dec. 28, at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center for Mascot Mania and Belco Kids Night. The first 3,000 kids 14-and-under will receive a pair of Coco earmuffs, courtesy of Belco. CLICK HERE to purchase tickets for this game.