Game Story: W-B/Scranton - 1 at Hershey - 2 (11/22/23)

HERSHEY, Pa. - In a low-scoring affair on Thanksgiving Eve, the Hershey Bears prevailed over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to head into the holiday with an AHL-best record of 13-4-0.

On Wednesday night at Giant Center it was the unsung heroes getting their turn in the limelight, with captain Dylan McIlrath netting his first goal of the season and penalty killing specialist Riley Sutter adding a goal and an assist as the fourth line figured in on both of the Bears' goals in a 2-1 triumph over their in-state rival in the Atlantic Division.

Matthew Strome also extended his point scoring streak to a career-high three games with an assist on McIlrath's game-opening goal in the first period. Hunter Shepard improved his personal record in the AHL this season to 7-1, stopping all but one of the 23 shots he faced.

The Penguins got a game-tying goal in the first period from Rem Pitlick off a feed from Jonathan Gruden, but with a lot of the team's offensive weapons out of the lineup it was mostly tough sledding offensively for the Penguins. Joel Blomqvist kept his team in a one-goal game all the way to the final minute of the contest - finishing the game with 30 saves.

Post-Game EXTRA!

W-B/Scranton Penguins head coach JD Forrest

"It seemed like every time we had a little push in a third, we got a penalty. We just could never get real sustained momentum. offensively. We had some great looks on that first power play. We just didn't carry it enough tonight with the puck. I thought we had some effort there without it. A couple of good kills. [Blomqvist] played well of course, but yeah, it wasn't really our best."

Hershey Bears head coach Todd Nelson

"It was great. You know what, they made me look smart. Because we wanted to break up Miroshnichenko and Dube just because they're pretty similar players so I wanted to put Miro with two really responsible defensive guys Riley Sutter, and [Matt] Strome and it paid off. Riley has an a goal and assist tonight and I said 'how do you like your new winger?', and he said I like it a lot. So I think it helped Miro too because are two veteran guys that can you know just talk to him in the D zone and stuff. He made a heck of a play on [Sutter's] goal. I like  their play. It why we won the game tonight."

GAME STORY

Things got started with a bit of an odd goal following a point shot from McIlrath, the Bears' captain. After a nice stutter step move at the left point, McIlrath floated one through traffic past Blomqvist - with Penguins forward Raivis Ansons sticking his leg out and appearing to get a piece of the puck before it darted into the top corner of the net 2:46 into the contest.

Fourth line forwards Riley Sutter and Matthew Strome were credited with assists on the play, winning puck possession behind the Penguins' net and getting the puck up top to McIlrath.

Credit Blomqvist for coming up big on a two-on-one chance against, sliding from right to left to make a glove stop to keep it at a one-goal game early. If that save doesn't get made, an early 2-0 hole on the road in Hershey might have opened up the door to pre-Thanksgiving blowout.

The Pens were held without a shot in the opening nine minutes of the contest, but once they started to get to their game they were able to generate a few chances - capitalizing on a give-and-go from Gruden and Pitlick to even the game at 1-1 with 9:23 left before the first intermission.

The middle frame begin similarly to the first in that Hershey was able to score an early-period goal to take the lead.

Ivan Miroshnichenko made a nice play behind the net, and fed Sutter out in front for a quick shot past Blomqvist 2:52 into the period to put the Bears back in front by a 2-1 count.

While the shots on goal were even in the middle frame, it felt like a period that Blomqvist was facing the tougher shots against and thankfully for the Penguins he was equal to the task - keeping it a one-goal game heading to the third period.

The Penguins, on the back of Blomqvist, kept themselves hanging around in a one-goal hockey game into the final 10 minutes of regulation.

Hershey appeared to score on a power play with 9:18 left, but after a quick review it was determined Blomqvist's net had come dislodged before the puck crossed the goal line - much to the chagrin of the Bears' faithful at Giant Center.

The Penguins penalty troubles in the third ultimately prevented them from evening the score and forcing overtime, as a pair of stick infractions from Ty Smith halted any momentum the Penguins were trying to generate to tie the game.

In fact, aided by those two power plays, the Bears actually out shot the Penguins by a 13-5 margin in the third period while preserving their 2-1 lead to victory.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Joel Blomqvist got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday night. Magnus Hellberg, back from Pittsburgh, served as Blomqvist's backup goaltender.

With Jansen Harkins and Alex Nylander called up to Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton added forwards Raivis Ansons and Cedric Desruisseaux (PTO) from their ECHL affiliate Wheeling Nailers.

Penguins Scratches: Taylor Fedun, Jordan Frasca, Sam Poulin, Colin White, Sam Houde and Avery Hayes

Lines/Pairings:

Matt Filipe - Joona Koppanen - Valtteri Puustinen Rem Pitlick - Jonathan Gruden - Austin Rueschhoff Jagger Joshua - Justin Addamo - Marc Johnstone Cedric Desruisseaux - Raivis Ansons - Corey Andonovski

Ty Smith - Jack St. Ivany Libor Hajek - Mark Pysyk Jack Rathbone - Xavier Ouellet

Joel Blomqvist (Backup: Magnus Hellberg)

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Hunter Shepard got the start in net for Hershey Wednesday. Clay Stevenson served as Shepard's backup.

Bears Scratches: Jake Massie, Nicky Leivermann, Ryan Hofer, Dmitry Osipov, Colin Swoyer, Henrik Rybinski

Lines/Pairings:

Mike Vecchione - Mike Sgarbossa - Ethen Frank Joe Snively - Jimmy Huntington - Alex Limoges Bogdan Trineyev - Garret Roe - Pierrick Dube Ivan Miroshnichenko - Riley Sutter - Matthew Strome

Hardy Haman Aktell - Dylan McIlrath Aaron Ness - Vincent Iorio Chase Priskie - Logan Day

Hunter Shepard (Backup: Clay Stevenson)

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

2:46: HER - McIlrath (1) - Sutter, Strome 10:37: WBS - Pitlick (4) - Gruden 17:03: HER - (PP) Frank, minor (high-sticking)

2nd Period

2:52: HER - Sutter (2) - Miroshnichenko, Haman Aktell 4:26: WBS - (PP) Ouellet, minor (hooking) 11:17: HER - (PP) Iorio, minor (tripping)

3rd Period

10:36: WBS - (PP) Smith, minor (slashing) 16:22: WBS - (PP) Smith, minor (tripping)

BOXSCORE

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

Shots

W-B/Scranton  10 - 8 - 5 = 23 Hershey Bears  10 - 9 - 13 = 32

Goalies

WBS: Joel Blomqvist (30 saves - 32 shots) HER: Hunter Shepard (22 saves - 23 shots)

Power Play

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

Penalty Kill

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