Dunne, Bears Get the Job Done

It has become a recurring theme over the last several games for the Hershey Bears: a dominant shot differential, yet the goals have not necessarily always followed.

With the Bears trailing the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 3-1 midway through the third period of Friday’s game, there was a possibility that Penguins netminder Taylor Gauthier would once again do his best impression of a wall facing Hershey’s shooters, as he did in a 43-save performance earlier this month.

But Hershey continued to press, and something finally clicked.

Behind a season-high 47 shots, Hershey got goals in the third from Spencer Smallman and Louie Belpedio to tie the score at 3-3 before the end of regulation, and Josh Dunne provided the overtime winner to put an exclamation mark on the home team’s come-from-behind win over its I-81 rivals.

“We didn’t stray from how we had to play, our identity, and we just kept picking away and we got goals when we needed them. And we were due to get some goals here,” Bears head coach Derek King said. “We were putting some shots on [Gauthier]. He played well.”

Two contests into a 12-game season series, and there’s a sense that familiarity is already breeding contempt. The most prominent example was the second-period scrap between Hershey’s Petr Sikora and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s Avery Hayes that had GIANT Center rocking.

“He’s really like a Swiss Army knife,” Lynden Lakovic said of his teammate and fellow rookie. “He really gets in the mix, and that’s his game. He’s a pest.”

For his part, Lakovic managed to electrify the crowd with his goal at 14:59 of the first period that tied the game at 1-1. After taking a cross-ice pass from Theodor Niederbach, the lanky forward darted around Harrison Brunicke, then cut right past Melvin Fernström before roofing a backhand over the blocker of a lunging Taylor Gauthier for his fourth of the season.

Despite several penalties being handed out by the officials and Hershey enjoying six man-advantage opportunities, however, the Bears were unable to convert. In fact, after Harrison Brunicke scored midway through the second period to give the visitors a 2-1 lead, it was Hayes who converted with the Penguins shorthanded to extend the lead to two goals.

But Hershey wouldn’t be denied on this night. Off a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton turnover, Gauthier denied a point-blank Andrew Cristall chance, but Spencer Smallman scored on the rebound at 7:07, and a knuckler of a slapshot from captain Louie Belpedio off a faceoff win evaded Gauthier to tie the game 3-3 at 13:01.

“It’s not always pretty. I wish it was, but I like the fact that we just stayed the course, kept plugging away. We never gave up. Some teams you have some over the years would just pack it in,” King said. “The old saying, we’re too dumb to quit, right? We just kept going and going and going, and we got some big saves from [Cal Petersen]. About time some of our goals went in.”

In a wild extra-session, it would be Dunne to provide the heroics. After Smallman raced after a loose puck, Gauthier darted out of his goal. His clearing pass was turned over to Dunne, and the forward posted his third game-winning goal of the season into the vacated goal to send the GIANT Center into a frenzy.

For Dunne, it was a fitting redemption following the series-opening loss on November 1.

“I think after the first time we played them we wanted to get them back there, especially losing like that, we don't want to do that again. So I think that was the message from the start,” Dunne said. “And then I think it’s just a big character win. Shows there’s a lot of character in the room.”

As for his two-game introduction to the Bears vs. Penguins rivalry?

“I think even before my first game you can kind of feel it when you play them, and then you know on the schedule you’re playing 12 times. So for us it’s like, you’re going to see these guys, you’ve got to set the tone, you’ve got to make sure they don’t want to play you, you know?” Dunne said. “I think it’s one of those things where if you want to have a good season, you’ve got to go right through them. It’s a tough game out there for both teams and it’s a lot of fun. The energy’s awesome. There's so much passion.”

Written by Bears media specialist Jesse Liebman