Rapid Reaction: Shots Aplenty in 5-0 Loss to Penguins

Despite a lopsided shot total of 43-16 in favor of the home team, the Hershey Bears could not solve goaltender Taylor Gauthier in a 5-0 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Sunday at GIANT Center.

“It’s frustrating to watch pucks not going in for us, and we talked about some slot plays they like to do and they scored three off it like that – so [it’s] just attention to details at times – and it’s in the back of our net,” Bears head coach Derek King said following the contest. “That’s a good hockey team and they can score if you give them the opportunity. And we just couldn’t bury it past [Gauthier].”

The Bears tested Gauthier early and often, as Hershey outshot Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 15-5 in the opening frame, and despite trailing 4-0 by the start of the third period, Hershey put up another 19 in the final stanza.

King didn’t view the shot differential as a variance in quantity versus quality.

“They had some shots that were right on [Hershey netminder Mitch Gibson],” King said. “We didn’t help him too much, but we had some point-blank opportunities too.”

Defenseman Jacob MacDonald – who led the Bears with eight shots on goal, representing an individual single-game high for the club this season – echoed his coach’s view.

“We did a lot of really good things, and their goalie played well, so hats off to him,” MacDonald said. “I thought we had quality looks. We had the quantity too. Sometimes the pucks just don’t go in.

“I don’t think there’s any defining moment necessarily [where the outcome was decided]. I thought that even when they scored right off the hop in the third period, we still believed that we had a chance to do it. We go out there and we put up almost 20 shots in the third. So there’s a lot of belief in that locker room that at any point in the game we can turn the tide and get one, it turns into two, you know? So just start with the first one and go from there. But like I said, tonight it didn’t happen.”

Written by Bears media specialist Jesse Liebman