Bears Return Home to Conquer Penguins 4-3 in Shootout

November 29, 2022

The Hershey Bears (13-4-2-0) battled back from a 3-2 deficit in the third period and prevailed with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (10-5-1-2) on Tuesday night at GIANT Center, giving Hershey its fourth consecutive victory.

BOX SCORE

Hershey fell behind 1-0 1:09 into the contest when Drake Caggiula received a behind-the-net feed from Drew O’Connor and beat Hunter Shepard on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s first shot of the game.

Valtteri Puustinen deflected a shot at 7:50 to put the Penguins ahead 2-0.

The Bears answered before the close of the frame when Mason Morelli redirected a shot from the left half-wall by Jake Massie behind Dustin Tokarski for his fourth of the season at 15:41. Vincent Iorio picked up a secondary helper.

Hershey drew level in the second when Massie’s shot from the left point deflected off a Penguins player and past Tokarski for Massie’s first goal of the season at 6:52. Massie’s goal gave him a two-point night, the second multi-point game in his AHL career and his first since Jan. 25, 2020 vs. Bridgeport. Hendrix Lapierre and Iorio collected the assists.

A skirmish at the end of the second period between Kale Kessy and O’Connor resulted in a two-minute minor for instigating, a five-minute major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct for Kessy, and a two-minute minor for roughing to O’Connor, giving the Penguins a continuous five-minute man advantage to begin the third.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton power-play unit converted on a goal by Nathan Legare at 1:33 to put Hershey down, 3-2.

Mike Vecchione equalized for Hershey when he redirected Bobby Nardella’s slap shot into the net at 11:04 for his team-leading sixth goal of the season, making it 3-3. Ethen Frank gained the secondary assist.

Both teams secured a point with the score tied at the end of regulation, and an additional five minutes of overtime yielded no change, sending Hershey to its second consecutive game decided by a shootout.

In the penalty shot contest, the Bears as the home team elected to shoot second. In the first round, Alexander Nylander and Connor McMichael failed to score. In the top of the second round, Shepard denied Sam Poulin when he kicked out his left leg pad at the post to deny the Penguins shooter. Sam Anas then put Hershey up with the eventual shootout-winning tally when he stumbled but recovered and got a shot off that beat Tokarski to the high glove. The game was decided when Caggiula’s shot in the top of the third round struck the right post, sealing the match for the Bears.

Shots finished 44-19 favoring the Bears. Shepard went 16-for-19 for Hershey, while Tokarski was 40-for-43 in 65 minutes of regulation and overtime. The Bears were 0-for-2 on the power play, while the Penguins were 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

Hershey continues the 2022-23 season, presented by Penn State Health, when the Bears visit the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at the PPL Center on Wednesday, Nov. 30 at 7:05 p.m. The Bears return to GIANT Center for David A. Smith Printing Team Photo Night (featuring a copy of the team photo for the first 6,000 fans in attendance) and Team Autograph Night, against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.