PENGUINS FALL TO BEARS, 5-4
HERSHEY, Pa. – A last-minute rally was dashed in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins’ 5-4 loss to the Hershey Bears on Tuesday night at Giant Center.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (26-12-4-0) seemingly forced overtime on a deflection by Boris Katchouk with 2.2 seconds left in regulation. However, after a discussion between all four on-ice officials, they determined that the puck was deflected into the net with a high stick. The goal was washed out, and Hershey held on to win.
Hershey broke the ice 4:40 in the game when Andrew Perrott released a clapper after a clean face-off win by the Bears.
Roughly two minutes later, Emil Bemström launched a bar-down wrist shot that beat Hershey’s netminder, Hunter Shepard, on his glove-side.
Hershey answered back twice in the span of four minutes with goals from Hendrix Lapierre and Ethan Bear, grabbing a 3-1 lead.
Chaos ensued late in the first period when Vasily Ponomarev was whistled for a five-minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct. Penguins defenseman Nikolai Knyzhov as well as Hershey’s Dalton Smith and Justin Nachbaur were also dolled game misconducts on the same sequence, amidst a slew of other penalties.
A brief four-on-three power play ensued for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, leading to Valtteri Puustinen slicing Hershey’s lead to 3-2 heading into the second frame.
Hershey stretched their lead to two once again with a man-advantage marker from Mike Vecchione at 3:23 of the second stanza.
The Penguins pulled within one when Avery Hayes cranked a backhand shot through Shepard’s five-hole just over four minutes into the third.
Spencer Smallman scored an empty net goal with two minutes remaining to give Hershey a two-goal lead for the moment. However, Mac Hollowell tallied his first goal of the season with 53 seconds remaining to make it 5-4.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton then had its late equalizer erased, and Hershey survived.
Joel Blomqvist denied 25 of 29 shots while manning the crease for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Shepard also made 25 saves.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next game is Friday, Feb. 14 when the Penguins take on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a Valentine’s Day matchup at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Puck drop for the next installment of the turnpike rivalry is slated for 7:05 p.m.
Season-ticket packages for the Penguins’ 2024-25 season are on sale now. Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and Premium Seating plans are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367.
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