Game Story: Hershey - 5 at W-B/Scranton - 4 (OT) 11/15/23

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears have seen a little bit of everything in their four meetings this season.

Each team has recorded a 5-1 blowout win, while the Penguins won with a buzzer-beater in a 2-1 triumph in their last meeting prior to tonight's tilt.

On Wednesday, it was a back-and-forth high-scoring affair which ultimately saw the Bears get the final tally in a 5-4 overtime decision over the Penguins.

Alex Limoges (GWG, one assist) played the role of hero, with Joe Snively and Vincent Iorio chipping in with a goal and an assist each as well. Jimmy Huntington added a pair of tallies in the win for Hershey. 17 saves on 21 shots was good enough for a win for Hunter Shepard.

For the Penguins, Jansen Harkins led the way with a pair of goals, while Valtteri Puustinen tallied a goal and assist. Jagger Joshua chipped in with his first career AHL goal, while Joel Blomqvist stopped 21 of 26 in a losing effort.

POST-GAME EXTRA!

Head coach JD Forrest

On the high-scoring game, especially the five goals scored in 2nd period

"Yeah, some weird bounces there - one [goes in] off a foot.  I thought we had a really good second period, controlled a lot of the pace of play - it started at the end of the first period. And then yeah, there was a lot of goals. It's usually not quite like that. There's been some odd games with these two teams this year, so yes, you never know what you're gonna get in these games right now."

On the many lineup changes, and the guys sticking with it tonight in a weird game.

"Yeah, definitely we're missing a couple of guys. But that's how it goes sometimes. And everybody stepped up, I thought we played a solid game all around. I don't really have any complaints for any guys. So it's good when you get to... you know, we would've liked to have the two points, obviously, but I did think the effort was there the whole time."

GAME STORY

It was a less than ideal start for the Penguins Wednesday night, as a Penguins' turnover in the defensive zone led to a goal against just 1:24 into the contest for the Bears.

Jake Massie stole a puck and got it to the right point for his defense partner Logan Day, and although Day's shot missed the mark the rebound popped right onto the stick of Snively in the left-wing circle for a quick shot past an unsuspecting Blomqvist.

The Penguins later evened things up after forcing a turnover on a Hershey breakout attempt, with Jonathan Gruden stealing a puck and centering for Puustinen's second goal on the season, but the 1-1 deadlock was short-lived as the Bears re-gained their one-goal lead - scoring off-the-rush with 6:03 left before the first intermission on Huntington's fourth of the year.

There were only 10 total shots on goal between the two teams in the middle frame, but half of those found their way into the back of the net - creating a back-and-forth five-goal period that saw no shortage of goal scoring.

Harkins tied the game at 2-2 just 31 seconds into the perio, putting home a missed shot from Rem Pitlick from the left circle after the puck bounced off the endboards and came out to him on the right side.

Perhaps that tally 31 seconds into the period set the tone for how the period would go.

Harkins got his second of the period to give the Pens a 3-2 lead with a power play tally after a great cross-ice feed from Puustinen 6:32 into the period.

The Bears responded just over a minute and a half later on Huntington's second of the game to tie the game back up at 3-3, later taking a 4-3 lead after a nice patient move and finish from Iorio for his first of the season with 9:05 left in the middle frame.

The back-and-forth continued as Joshua tied up the game at 4-4 with his first career AHL goal - going hard to the net with a Bears forward attempting to prevent him from getting to the top of the crease. Corey Andonovski slid a pass to the net and Joshua got a piece of it to get it to go past Shepard and into the net.

Things tightened up in the third period, as both teams were dug in on the 4-4 game. A fast-moving final frame came and went with no go-ahead goal scored, so it was on to overtime.

In the 3-on-3, it was Limoges burying a feed from Ethen Frank to lift the Bears to the 5-4 win.

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Hunter Shepard got the start in net for Hershey Wednesday night in Wilkes-Barre. Clay Stevenson served as the team's backup goaltender.

Bears Scratches: Nicky Leivermann, Colin Swoyer, Bogdan Trineyev and Garrett Roe

Lines/Pairings:

Mike Vecchione - Mike Sgarbossa - Ethen Frank Joe Snively - Jimmy Huntington - Alex Limoges Ivan Miroshinchenko - Henrik Rybinski - Pierrick Dube Ryan Hofer - Riley Sutter - Matthew Strome

Aaron Ness - Vincent Iorio Jake Massie - Logan Day Dmitri Osipov - Chase Priskie

Hunter Shepard - Clay Stevenson

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Joel Blomqvist got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday night against Hershey. Garret Sparks served as the team's backup.

With Alex Nedeljkovic nearing a return to the net in Pittsburgh, it's possible that Wilkes-Barre/Scranton may get Magnus Hellberg back on the roster in the near future.

Quite a list of scratched players for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at first glance.

Captain Taylor Fedun and Ty Smith (1G-6A in 12GP) were the odd men out on the blue line, while Sam Houde, Alex Nylander and Colin White were out of the Penguins lineup up front.

Some injury updates from the Penguins prior to Wednesday night's game:

Avery Hayes (upper body) is week-to-week.

Colin White (upper body) is week-to-week.

Sam Houde (lower body) is week-to-week.

Sam Poulin still week-to-week with a lower body injury.

Alex Nylander is sick & did not play Wednesday.

Jordan Frasca and Justin Addamo made their Penguins' season debuts Wednesday, joining the team from ECHL Wheeling.

In a separate move, the Penguins loaned goaltender Taylor Gauthier and defenseman Justin Lee to Wheeling.

Penguins Scratches: Taylor Fedun, Alex Nylander, Sam Poulin, Ty Smith, Colin White, Sam Houde and Avery Hayes

Lines/Pairings:

Rem Pitlick - Jansen Harkins - Austin Rueschhoff Jonathan Gruden - Joona Koppanen - Valtteri Puustinen Jagger Joshua - Marc Johnstone - Corey Andonovski Justin Addamo - Jordan Frasca - Matt Filipe

Libor Hajek - Mark Pysyk Dmitri Samorukov - Jack St. Ivany Xavier Ouellet - Jack Rathbone

Joel Blomqvist - Garret Sparks

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

1:24: HER - Snively (4) - Day, Massie 10:09: WBS - Puustinen (2) - Gruden 10:21: HER - (PP) Sutter, minor (tripping) 13:57: HER - Huntington (4) - Limoges, Snively 14:05: WBS - (PP) Ouellet, minor (high-sticking)

2nd Period

0:31: WBS - Harkins (3) - Pitlick, St Ivany 3:09: WBS - (PP) Filipe, minor (high-sticking) 4:46: HER - (PP) Day, minor (interference) 6:32: WBS - PPG Harkins (4) - Puustinen, Ouellet 8:08: HER - Huntington (5) - Day, Massie 10:55: HER - Iorio (1) - Strome 13:47: WBS - Joshua (1) - Andonovski, Johnstone

3rd Period

5:20: WBS - (PP) Johnstone, minor (tripping)

Overtime

2:51: HER - Limoges (3) - Frank, Iorio

BOXSCORE

Hershey  2 - 2 - 0 - 1= 5 W-B/Scranton  1 - 3 - 0 - 0 = 4

Shots

Hershey  9 - 4 - 10 - 3 = 26 W-B/Scranton  12 - 6 - 3 - 0 = 21

Goalies

HER: Hunter Shepard (17 saves - 21 shots) WBS: Joel Blomqvist (21 saves - 26 shots)

Power Play

HER: 0-for-3 WBS: 1-for-2

Penalty Kill

HER: 1-for-2 WBS: 3-for-3