GAME STORY: Hershey - 0 at W-B/Scranton - 3 (4/19/22)

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears battled for the 12th and final scheduled meeting of the regular season series Tuesday night, but the two teams seem destined to meet in the opening round of the 2022 Calder Cup Playoffs the way things stand in the Atlantic Division with 11 days left in the 2021-22 regular season.

That would probably be just fine with Penguins goaltender Tommy Nappier, who has been the winning Pens goalie in his last three starts - and his last four appearances against Hershey. With Louis Domingue currently up in the NHL with Pittsburgh for an undetermined amount of time, Nappier has been building confidence - culminating with recording his first career pro shutout in a giant 24-save effort including 13 of 13 in the third period to preserve a lead.

After a scoreless game dragged on into the final two minutes of the second period, Michael Chaput put the Penguins on the board first with a shorthanded tally off a feed from the corner boards from Kasper Bjorkvist. They added an insurance marker early in the third period from Alex Nylander, and rode Nappier to the finish line before Pierre-Olivier Joseph hit the empty net to complete the 3-0 victory.

The Penguins' win, combined with Hershey's loss, moved Wilkes-Barre/Scranton even with the Bears in the standings with the Penguins having two fewer games played. The Pens will finish out the regular season on the road in their final five games, but are in the driver's seat and control their own destiny in hopes of not only securing a playoff spot but nabbing home ice advantage in at least the best-of-three first round series to begin the month of May.

That's especially important for the Penguins because they're 16-3-3 in their last 22 home games, a dominant record at the Mohegan Sun Arena.

For Hershey, the 3-0 setback was their second straight shutout loss. They've now 131 minutes and 11 seconds without a goal, and an eye-opening 228 minutes and 43 seconds without an even-strength 5-on-5 tally. Goaltender Zach Fucale (20 saves - 22 shots) played valiantly in defeat.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Tommy Nappier got the start in net against Hershey. Joel Blomqvist got into his first AHL game as the Penguins' backup goalie.

Mitch Reinke and Drew O'Connor were surprise scratches for the Penguins Tuesday night. Reinke missed the game with a non-COVID illness, while O'Connor's absence was termed day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

Head coach JD Forrest said "there's nothing to be concerned about" regarding O'Connor's injury and that "he'll be back soon".

Penguins Scratches: Filip Lindberg, Alex D'Orio, Taylor Fedun, Mitch Reinke, Drew O'Connor, Corey Andonovski, Jamie Devane, Niclas Almari, Nathan Legare, Clayton Phillips and Ty Glover

Lines/Pairings:

Filip Hallander - Sam Poulin - Valtteri Puustinen Felix Robert - Radim Zohorna - Alex Nylander Jordy Bellerive - Michael Chaput - Anthony Angello Kasper Bjorkvist - Jonathan Gruden - Kyle Olson

Juuso Riikola - Will Reilly P.O. Joseph - Colin Swoyer Cam Lee - Matt Bartkowski

Tommy Nappier - Joel Blomqvist

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Zach Fucale got the start in net for the Bears Tuesday night in Wilkes-Barre, with Pheonix Copley serving as the team's backup.

Injuries to the Bears' forward core continued Tuesady night as Shane Gersich (lower body) blocked a shot in the first period and didn't return.

To make matters worse, newcomer Ethen Frank took a big hit in the middle frame and was also unable to return - leaving Hershey with just 10 healthy forwards for the third period.

Bears Scratches: Clay Stevenson, Jake Massie, Macoy Erkamps, Christopher Brown, Kale Kessy, Riley Sutter, Matt Moulson, Brian Pinho, Eddie Wittchow and Kody Clark

Lines/Pairings:

Aliaksei Protas - Mike Sgarbossa - Brett Leason Julian Napravnik - Mike Vecchione - Garrett Pilon Shane Gersich - Mason Morelli - Ethen Frank Beck Malenstyn - Drake Rymsha - Marcus Vela

Lucas Johansen - Cody Franson Bobby Nardella - Dylan McIlrath Tobias Geisser - Alex Alexeyev

Zach Fucale - Pheonix Copley

GAME STORY

1st Period

The first period, though scoreless, was an entertaining opening 20 minutes played entirely at 5-vs-5.

Both the Penguins and Bears played with pace, a sense of urgency and - at times - desperation.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton had the better of the chances in the early going.

Valterri Puustinen got behind Hershey's defense in the opening minutes and got a great stretch pass from Juuso Riikola for a mini-breakaway on Zach Fucale, but was ultimately denied by the Bears' goaltender.

On the next shift, Penguins goaltender Tommy Nappier was pressed into action in a similar situation at the other end - stopping a mini break-in from Bears' forward Brett Leason.

The best chance of the period came with Filip Hallander being a force at the net front, working for and retrieving a puck behind an unsuspecting Fucale. Luckily for the Bears, their defense was able to muscle the puck out of harms way and prevent Hallander from stuffing in the loose puck.

Hershey had a few Grade-A opportunities of their own in the first frame. Most notably, a Mike Sgarbossa breakaway from the blue line that beat Nappier but caught the post with just under three minutes left in the stanza.

Alex Nylander also got in on the breakaway chances in the closing minutes of the period, stealing a D-to-D pass just inside the Penguins' defensive zone blue line before turning on the jets. Fucale made the save to get the two teams to the first intermission scoreless.

2nd Period

After a penalty-free first period, the two teams traded power plays to begin the middle frame.

First, it was the Bears with a man advantage opportunity - though they didn't get much in the way of dangerous scoring chances during the two minutes of 5-on-4.

A shift passed after the Penguins' penalty expired, and it was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton heading to their first power play chance of the night on a similar tripping infraction as the one Sam Poulin had just served.

The Penguins got a few looks to the net, but were unable to convert and the game remained scoreless.

Despite the 0-0 score, there was plenty of action and excitement.

Toward the midway mark of regulation, Michael Chaput blocked a point shot and stormed in on a breakaway - going forehand to backhand and nearly netting the game's first goal if not for a last-ditch effort by Fucale to throw his left pad out to deny Chaput's backhand attempt.

The physicality and nastiness you'd expect from two teams playing in their 12th meeting of the season continued to show as the period progressed, with several scrums between heated rivals breaking out after whistles with some regularity.

The pace of play in the first period was certainly matched in the middle frame. All that was missing was the game's opening goal.

Hershey had a late-period power play opportunity to break the scoreless tie, but it was the Penguins scoring shorthanded to take a 1-0 lead into the final frame.

Kasper Bjorkvist out-worked the Bears defense down low, and from the corner sent the puck to the net front where Chaput was able to reach out and re-direct the pass through the legs of Fucale.

3rd Period

The Penguins kept their foot on the proverbial gas pedal to begin the third, getting an insurance marker 4:19 into the final frame to extend their lead to 2-0.

It started, and ended, with Alex Nylander.

Nylander stole a puck in the neutral zone to start an odd-man rush with Felix Robert, flipping a backhander to the right wing for Robert. Cam Lee joined the rush, and Robert dropped it back to the Penguins' defender with Lee skating it down low before centering for Nylander for a slam-dunk style quick snap shot into the back of the net for his 21st of the season.

From there, Hershey showed desparation. They ended up out-shooting the Penguins 13-4 in the third period, but to no avail.

Nappier stopped them all on his way to his first career AHL shutout (24 saves).

P.O. Joseph added an empty net tally to complete the 3-0 final score.

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

No scoring/penalties

2nd Period

1:47: WBS - (PP) Poulin, minor (tripping) 3:59: HER - (PP) Rymsha, minor (tripping) 18:04: WBS - (PP) Bellerive, minor (elbowing) 18:40: WBS - SHG Chaput (12) - Bjorkvist

3rd Period

4:19: WBS - Nylander (21) - Lee, Robert 11:26: WBS - (PP) Reilly, minor (hooking) 16:31: WBS - ENG Joseph (10) - Chaput

BOXSCORE

Hershey Bears 0 - 0 - 0 = 0 W-B/Scranton  0 - 1 - 2 = 3

Shots

Hershey Bears 7 - 4 - 13 = 24 W-B/Scranton  7 - 12 - 4 = 23

Goalies

HER: Zach Fucale (20 saves - 22 shots) WBS: Tommy Nappier (24 saves - 24 shots)

Power Play

HER: 0-for-3 WBS: 0-for-1

Penalty Kill

HER: 1-for-1 WBS: 3-for-3