Game Story: Hershey - 2 at W-B/Scranton - 1 (SO) 12/27/22

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears returned from a brief hiatus for the holidays and reconvened their rivalry on the ice in their ninth meeting on the season Tuesday night. In a goaltender's duel between Zach Fucale (Hershey, 24 saves on 25 shots) and Dustin Tokarski (W-B/Scranton, 38 saves on 39 shots) it was the Bears beating the Penguins in a shootout by a 2-1 final score.

The teams traded power play goals in the middle as Ethen Frank gave Hershey a 1-0 lead 6:06 into the middle frame before Alex Nylander tied things up with 1:41 left before the second intermission. Other than that bit of offense, goaltending was on full display.

Things got weird in the shootout, after both teams were unable to find a game-winning goal in the three-on-three overtime period.

Nylander was the first shootout attempt, and the Penguins forward had the puck bounce and hop over his stick as he was stickhandling his way to the blue line. The referee's blew Nylander's shootout attempt dead in the water as he overskated the puck entering the offensive zone and tried to circle back to retrieve it.

Connor McMichael scored on Hershey's first attempt to follow, and Fucale went on to stop both Filip Hallander and Drake Caggiula to give the Bears the win.

It didn't look like Tuesday night's game would be a nail-biter down to the wire, however, judging by the way the contest began.

The Penguins took a penalty on the opening shift of the hockey game, giving the Bears an early power play and a chance to get their offensive legs going.

Hershey wasn't able to convert, but they garnered momentum that they seemed to carry with them throughout the period - racking up a 15-5 edge in shots in the opening period. The Bears controlled large portions of the first frame, but were unable to break the scoreless tie before the first intermission due in large part to Tokarski's play in net.

The two teams traded power plays in the middle frame, after the Bears had begun the period with a man advantage of their own.

The Bears were eventually able to break through to take the 1-0 lead 6:06 into the period, with Aaron Ness setting up Frank from atop the left-wing circle for a hard shot wired to the far-side top shelf. Mike Sgarbossa also added an assist on Frank's 11th of the season.

Things opened up a bit in the second period as the stanza featured plenty of sequences with end-to-end action - including a pair of big saves from Fucale at one end and a big stop on a 3-on-1 rush from Tokarski seconds later at the other.

The Penguins were able to convert on a power play chance of their own late in the period to send the two teams to the third period even at one apiece. Valtteri Puustinen got a puck down low to Nylander just below the left-wing circle, and Nylander was able to squeeze one past Fucale from a bad angle.

Drake Caggiula picked up a secondary assist on Nylander's 11th of the season - a big goal for the home team that came with 1:41 left before the second intermission.

As expected in a 1-1 game in the third period, things tightened up considerably compared to the middle frame, with neither team wanting to make that costly mistake.

The two teams grinded their way past regulation in that same 1-1 tie through overtime and into the shootout before the Bears proved victorious.

Hershey Bears Post-Game EXTRA!

Head Coach Todd Nelson

On his team coming out strong to start in first game back from holiday break

"We practiced this morning - a morning skate - and our execution was really good. And I was quite surprised. And then, you know, this first game back after having four days off, I was really surprised in the first period. That was one of our best periods of the year. It's a credit to the guys. The guys were ready to go. And it was a big two points for us."

Forward Ethen Frank

On the team's strong start Tuesday night

"It was a short break. I think it was good. But I think we were just really focused from the start, we knew what we had the first half [of the season] and what we kind of started getting going. And we're just excited to keep that rolling and keep doing what we can to win games."

On his power play goal in the 2nd period

"Yeah, so we've been working on that about the past week or so - kind of some different plays and different routes to take and coach has been working with me with positioning and stuff, which has helped a lot. But yeah, there was just a lane there. And they've just been telling me to shoot the puck, shoot the puck, shoot the puck, and, on my one timer side, I was fortunate enough to get a clear lane to the net, and some good results."

Hershey Bears

Zach Fucale got the start in net for Hershey Tuesday night against the Penguins. Hunter Shepard, returned from Washington, served as Fucale's backup.

Julian Napravnik took the warmup skate, but was the final scratch for the Bears Tuesday.

Bears Scratches: Sam Anas (lower body injury), Julian Napravnik, Henrik Borgstrom (illness), Bobby Nardella (upper body injury), Garrett Pilon (lower body injury), Henrik Rybinski (upper body injury)

Lines/Pairings:

Mike Vecchione - Mike Sgarbossa - Ethen Frank Mason Morelli - Connor McMichael - Kevin O'Neil Alexandre Fortin - Hendrix Lapierre - Shane Gersich Kale Kessy - Riley Sutter - Matthew Strome

Aaron Ness - Logan Day Gabriel Carlsson - Dylan McIlrath Jake Massie - Vincent Iorio

Hunter Shepard - Zach Fucale

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Dustin Tokarski got the start in net for the Penguins Tuesday night. Taylor Gauthier served as the team's backup.

Filip Lindberg, who left in the 1st period of the Penguins' loss in Belleville Wednesday night, is out with a lower body injury and is "week-to-week".

Kyle Olson also left Wednesday's game due to injury. He's also out with a lower body injury and is "week-to-week".

Jordan Frasca took the warmup skate but was the final healthy scratch.

Penguins Scratches:  Jordan Frasca, Colin Swoyer, Sam Poulin, Jamie Devane, Kyle Olson and Sean Josling

Lines/Pairings:

Drake Caggiula - Sam Houde - Alex Nylander Filip Hallander - Jonathan Gruden - Valtteri Puustinen Nathan Legare - Tyler Sikura - Corey Andonovski Ty Glover - Raivis Ansons - Lukas Svejkovsky

Ty Smith - Taylor Fedun Jon Lizotte - Mitch Reinke Xavier Ouellet - Jack St. Ivany

Dustin Tokarski - Taylor Gauthier

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

0:51: WBS - (PP) Gruden, minor (hooking) 17:39: WBS - Legare, minor (tripping) 17:39: HER - Day, minor (holding the stick) 20:00: WBS - (PP) Fedun, minor (tripping)

2nd Period

1:53: HER - (PP) Morelli, minor (slashing) 5:15: WBS - (PP) Ansons, minor (slashing) 6:06: HER - PPG Frank (11) - Ness, Sgarbossa 7:54: WBS - (PP) Houde, minor (high-sticking) 13:45: WBS - (PP) Legare, minor (holding) 16:48: HER - (PP) Massie, minor (interference) 18:19: WBS - PPG Nylander (11) - Puustinen, Caggiula

3rd Period

8:55: HER - (PP) McIlrath, minor (holding)

Overtime

No Scoring/Penalties

Shootout

WBS

Nylander - no goal Hallander - no goal Caggiula - no goal

HER

McMichael - GOAL Sgarbossa - no goal

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

Hershey Bears  15 - 11 - 9 - 4 = 40 W-B/Scranton  5 - 10 - 8 - 2 = 25

Goalies

HER: Zach Fucale (24 saves - 25 shots) WBS: Dustin Tokarski  (38 saves - 39 shots)

Power Play

HER: 1-for-5 WBS: 1-for-3

Penalty Kill

HER: 2-for-3 WBS: 4-for-5