Game Story: W-B/Scranton - 1 at Hershey - 4 (12/27/23)

HERSHEY, Pa. - After a slow start for both teams in what was the first game out of the holiday break, the Hershey Bears were able to break through on their way to a 4-1 victory over rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Wednesday night - their 25th win on the season in their 31st game of the campaign.

Alex Limoges scored a crucial first period goal moments after Penguins forward Corey Andonovski hit the crossbar at the other end of the ice, and the Bears extended their lead on second period tallies from Ethen Frank and Joe Snively before Pierrick Dube concluded the scoring with an empty net tally in the third.

Austin Rueschoff broke Hunter Shepard's (20 saves - 21 shots) shutout bid 11:48 into the final frame in what was the Penguins' lone tally on the night, while Penguins goaltender Magnus Hellberg (33 saves - 36 shots) played valiantly despite being tagged with the loss.

Post-Game EXTRA!

Hershey head coach Todd Nelson

On how his team handled the first game out of the holiday break.

"Well, we got better as the game went on. I thought both teams were pretty sloppy - and that was expected. You know, both teams were turning  pucks over - we knew that was gonna happen. We're happy with the results. Obviously, we can play better than that. So can they. These games after Christmas, it's kind of a crapshoot, to see how teams are going to react."

Bears forward Alex Limoges

On the first game back from break, plus bad ice making things difficult on both teams.

"It was just something we kept talking about the locker room - playing pucks behind them, letting our forecheck do the work and then making plays from there. But you know, it's no secret the ice was kind of slow and guys were fumbling pucks, and it was stopping on people - a lot of turnovers to start. So that's when really we just need to go back to basics and get pucks deep, and keep it simple."

W-B/Scranton head coach JD Forrest

On the Penguins' first game back from break.

"I thought our first period was actually pretty good. We had a lot of chances, we hit the crossbar right before, you know, we had a pretty bad turnover and just handed them a goal. And then it kind of changed from there. But there's nothing trap about it. It's just the first game after break, it's not gonna be pretty."

On the challenge of the Atlantic Division and facing top team in the league 7 times in opening 29 games

"It's hard to get on a string of wins when you play good teams all the time. And so I think, for us, the discipline - the ability to stick to gameplans throughout 60 minutes is a big deal. When we do that, we tend to have success. When we don't, we give the other team opportunities - we open the door for them, and we did that tonight."

GAME STORY

The opening eight minutes of the contest looked very much like the first game out of the holiday break for both teams.

Passes weren't crisp, and were not connecting. It just looked an uncoordinated effort by all involved.

Then, a questionable knee-on-knee hit behind the Bears net between Bears captain Dylan McIlrath and Penguins forward Raivis Ansons leaves the latter down in a heap - signaling the game's first penalty.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton wasn't able to muster up much on the ensuing man advantage, and the first frame slog continued until the waning moments of the period when the two teams exchanged Grade-A chances back-to-back before the game's opening goal was tallied.

First, Corey Andonovski stole a puck in the neutral zone off a face-off - sending himself on a mini-breakaway toward Shepard. Andonovski's shot rang the crossbar, and seconds later it was Hershey racing up the ice the other way and scoring after a bad turnover in the Penguins defensive zone.

Limoges picked up a blind backhanded pass in the right-wing circle and quickly fired one past an unsuspecting Hellberg for his ninth of the season to put Hershey ahead with 2:21 left before the first intermission.

The late-period Bears goal in the first seemed to be the turning point in the game, because while the middle frame was a bit a slow-go for both teams Hershey was able to get the better of the chances in racking up 16 shots on goal in the period.

Hershey had a stretch of recording 14 straight shots on goal in the middle portion of the period, leading into a goal off-the-rush from Frank with 6:42 left before the second intermission.

Sgarbossa entered the offensive zone with speed on the right wing, flung a hard pass across to Snively in the left-wing circle and Snively one-touched the puck to the middle for a quick tap to the top shelf by Frank for his 14th of the season.

On the shift following Frank's insurance marker, Andonovski boarded Limoges - resulting in a scrum and 20 minutes in penalties assessed to the Penguins forward - including a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct.

A slashing minor on the ensuing shift from Colin White put the Penguins shorthanded four-on-three, and the Bears were quick to capitalize with Snively sniping Hellberg from between the circles to make it a 3-0 Bears lead with 6:09 left in the middle frame.

The Penguins showed promise in the opening minutes of the 2nd period - credited with five shots on goal in the first 3:26 of action - but then proceeded to go over 16 minutes without a shot on goal.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton was able to get on the board in the third, breaking Shepard's shutout bid with 8:12 left in regulation to cut their deficit to 3-1 on a goal in transition from Rueschoff.

Later, down by that same 3-1 count, the Pens opted to pull Hellberg for the extra attacker with 4:30 left looking to get back to within one before.

Instead, it was Aaron Ness blocking a shot and Dube tallying an empty netter for his team-leading 17th goal on the season to complete the Bears' 4-1 win.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup Notes

Magnus Hellberg got the start in net for the Penguins Wednesday. Joel Blomqvist served as the team's backup goalie.

Penguins Scratches: Garret Sparks, Vinnie Hinostroza, Ty Smith, Matt Filipe, Sam Houde, Xavier Ouellet, Owen Headrick and Avery Hayes

Lines/Pairings

Rem Pitlick - Colin White - Alex Nylander Sam Poulin - Peter Abbandonato - Austin Rueschhoff Raivis Ansons - Joona Koppanen - Corey Andonovski Jagger Joshua - Jonathan Gruden - Marc Johnstone

Ryan Shea - Dmitri Samorukov Will Butcher - Jack St. Ivany Jack Rathbone - Taylor Fedun

Magnus Hellberg - Joel Blomqvist

Hershey Bears Lineup Notes

Hunter Shepard got the start in net for the Bears Wednesday nightc with Clay Stevenson serving as the team's backup goaltender.

Bears Scratches: Jake Massie, Nicky Leivermann, Ryan Hofer, Logan Day, Dmitry Osipov and Colin Swoyer

Lines/Pairings

Joe Snively - Mike Sgarbossa - Ethen Frank Alex Limoges - Jimmy Huntington - Pierrick Dube Mike Vecchione - Garrett Roe - Bogdan Trineyev Matt Strome - Riley Sutter - Henrik Rybinski

Aaron Ness - Dylan McIlrath Lucas Johansen - Vincent Iorio Hardy Haman Aktell - Chase Priskie

Hunter Shepard - Clay Stevenson

GAME SUMMARY

1st Period

8:49: HER - (PP) McIlrath, minor (tripping) 18:39: HER - Limoges (9) - unassisted

2nd Period

12:18: HER - Frank (14) - Snively, Sgarbossa 13:05: WBS - (PP) Andonovski, major (boarding) 13:05: WBS - Andonovski, major (fighting) 13:05: WBS - Andonovski, game misconduct 13:05: HER - Dube, minor (instigating) 13:05: HER - Dube, major (fighting) 13:05: HER - Dube, ten-minute misconduct 13:30: WBS - (PP) White, minor (slashing) 13:51: HER - PPG Snively (9) - Sgarbossa, Vecchione

3rd Period

2:30: HER - (PP) Roe, minor (hooking) 11:48: WBS - Rueschhoff (5) - Fedun, Koppanen 15:56: HER - ENG Dube (17) - Limoges, Huntington

BOXSCORE

W-B/Scranton  0 - 0 - 1 = 1 Hershey Bears  1 - 2 - 1 = 4

Shots

W-B/Scranton  5 - 7 - 9 = 21 Hershey Bears  7 - 16 - 14 = 37

Goalies

WBS: Magnus Hellberg (33 saves - 36 shots) HER: Hunter Shepard (20 saves - 21 shots)

Power Play

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

Penalty Kill

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