Hershey Bears Drop Big Game Against Penguins
Photo credit: Tori Hartman
Sigh. This is the first time the Hershey Bears have lost multiple games in a row since before the All-Star break. The WBS Penguins are chasing the Hershey Bears for the second place spot in the Eastern Conference right now. Tonight’s game and Saturday’s are crucial games if the Hershey Bears want to keep a pretty good cushion between them and the Penguins. The game this evening started strong but didn’t end well with the Bears losing 5-3.
The Hershey Bears got a pretty early power play on a Brian Dumoulin high stick. The Bears had some great opportunities on the power play including a few from Stanislav Galiev, but WBS put matched the pace and up a great PK effort. In today’s game, Andre Burakovsky was slotted into the first power play unit in place of Casey Wellman. In some strange first period events, Jayson Megna scored a goal but was ruled no goal on the ice by the linesman, so play continued. The next stoppage of play came on an Erik Burgdoerfer hooking call.
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The Megna opportunity was reviewed and ruled a goal, but Burgdoerfer‘s penalty still remained, and Troy Mann wasn’t very pleased that the Bears were getting hit twice. Regardless, the Bears killed the penalty and kept Matt Murray busy. Midway through the first, Kris Newbury back to Connor Carrick with a nice feed to Dustin Gazley got one deflected past the leading goaltender in the league. The Hershey Bears wrapped up the period on a great power play and had some extended pressure in the o-zone after their PP time was up. Hershey took a 14-7 shot advantage and 1-1 tie into the second period.
Hockey is a game a waves of dominance by one team. The second period saw that exact type of play. Both teams had some great opportunities and the goalies were making the money saves. The fourth line of L. O’Brien–Broda–Mitchell was definitely setting the tone for Hershey in the o-zone. Connor Carrick would later score to give the Hershey Bears the first lead of the game at 2-1. Hershey started to get a little careless with line changes and had two too many men penalties one right after each other. Danny Syvret would eventually get penalized to give 4×4 action, but Barry Goers would tie the game at 16:28. WBS would sustain the pressure for the rest of the period. The game stayed tied 2-2 to start the third.
Wilkes-Barre came out ready to go for the third period and had a good first shift out there. Mike Moore silenced that momentum briefly when he scored to make it 3-2 Hershey. They announcement for Moore‘s goal didn’t even completely finished before a setup from Bobby Farnham and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond to Matia Marcantuoni would tie the game 3-3 just 13 seconds later. The Hershey Bears had an opportunity to get ahead on a Matt Murray tripping penalty, but the Penguins got a huge momentum swing from a great penalty kill.
From here on out, it was all Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Tom Kostopoulos would give WBS the lead at 16:37, and by then the drive from Hershey was totally gone. A THIRD Hershey too many men penalty took away the chance to tie the game and a bad Connor Carrick turnover was given to Conor Sheary who would make the final score 5-3 Penguins. The Hershey Bears finished 0/4 on the PP and 3/4 on the PK and registered 27 shots on goal.
Well, the Hershey Bears proved that Matt Murray isn’t impenetrable. This is the first time since January 31 that Murray let in more than one goal in a game. Two of the goals against Murray were redirected in and the other Hershey Bears goal was on a 2-0n-1 rush up the ice. He still had a pretty impressive night though. Troy Mann and his Bears will have to work out a way to score some more on him because I’d imagine he’d get the nod again on Saturday.
I’m pleased with how the Hershey Bears started this game; however, I am upset that they sat back and let WBS take control in the third period. Where was the same spark they had the first two periods? It was a big game for the standings, and they didn’t get the job done. They were playing well along the boards and winning the puck battles to just become careless in the third. WBS came ready to play and fought until the end. I would like to shout out Dustin Gazley who was flying tonight, and it shows in his third star honors this evening.
Burakovsky seemed a little more adapted to this league’s style of play, but to be honest, I’m still not very impressed by him, yet. I would like to see him pass a little more. He has some skilled line mates in Casey Wellman and Philippe Cornet who can definitely help him out. I hope he has the right attitude about being sent down to the AHL. I also think this team is missing Jim O’Brien. O’Brien was picked up off of waivers in late December, and it took a little time for him to adjust and recover from oral surgery, but I feel as if he is a key element to the win streak in the new year.
It also looks like there is a possibility that we won’t be getting any defensemen back from Washington for the games this weekend:
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton only trails Hershey by three points in the standings now. An important rematch for the Hershey Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins is set for Saturday and is the 12th and final time these two rivals will meet in the regular season. Hershey Bears will make a pit stop in Binghamton on Friday to take on another East Division competitor, the Senators.
Three Stars of the Game:
1.Tom Kostopoulos (1G, 1A)
2. Jayson Megna (1G, 1A)
3. Dustin Gazley (1G, 1A)
Lines:
Scratches: Healthy: Stephenson, Volaptti; Injury: Wey, J. O’Brien,Byers