AHL Game Recap: Penguins Defeat Bears in Shootout

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins picked up a 5-4 shootout win over the Hershey Bears. The two teams are in first and second in the Atlantic Division. The Bears lead by four points over the Penguins. Both teams have 16 games left in the regular season. The Bears lead the regular season after last night going 5-3-0-1.

Purchase tickets via Ticketmaster

Game Recap

First Period

The Penguins got on the board first. Ville Koivunen, got the scoring started as he scored his 20^th of the season. The goal was assisted by Jack St. Ivany and Valtteri Puustinen. Under two minutes later Ruter McGroarty scored his 13^th goal of the season to make it 2-0 Penguins. Puustinen and Koivunen assisted on McGroarty’s goal. The Bears got on the board with a goal from Dalton Smith, it was his second of the season. The goal was assisted by Matt Strome and Chase Priskie.

Second Period

The second period saw the Bears tied things up at 2’s. Ivan Miroshnichenko scored his 18^th goal of the year with an assist by Spencer Smallman. Just 3.5 minutes into the period Smith and Dan Renouf dropped the gloves. Mathias Laferriere gave the Penguins the lead back with his fifth of the season. Chase Stillman and Marc Johnstone assisted on Laferriere’s goal. The Bears would knot things back up with Priskie scoring his 11^th of the year. Miroshnichenko and Hendrix Lapierre added assists.

Third Period

The Penguins just 41 seconds into the third period took the lead. Avery Hayes scored his 17^th of the year with McGroarty and St. Ivany assisting. With under eight minutes left, the Bears tied things up with Alex Limoges scoring his 15^th of the season. Andrew Perrott recorded his first assist and Nick Leivermann also added an assist. Regulation would end at 4-4.

Extra Time & Final

Neither team found the back of the net in overtime, the Penguins outshot the Bears 5-2 in overtime. The shootout would go five rounds with the Bears being held with a goal with Miroshnichenko, Lapierre, Strome, Pierrick Dube, and Ethan Bear shut down. Koivunen, Tristan Broz, Boris Katchouk, and Vasily Ponomarev were held without a goal before Sam Poulin scored the game-winner to secure the extra point for the Penguins.

Goalies

Sergei Murashov got the start in net, he stopped 31 of the 35 shots he faced not including the five saves he made in the shootout. Murashov is undefeated this season for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton posting a 8-0-0 record with a 2.34 goals-against average, a .925 save percentage, and a shutout. Clay Stevenson got the start for Hershey stopping 25 of the 29 shots he faced. Stevenson is 14-6-4 this season with a 2.92 goals-against average, a .887 save percentage, and two shutouts.

Next Up:

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will next face the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday at 7:05 PM EST at the PPL Center in Allentown, PA. The Penguins are 7-1-1-1 against the Phantoms this season averaging 3.60 goals per matchup while the Phantoms are averaging 2.40 goals per matchup. The Bears’ next game is Saturday at 7:00 PM CDT against the Chicago Wolves at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, IL. Hershey is 1-0-1-0 against Chicago this season, they lost 3-2 on October 19^th before rebounding with a 5-0 win on October 20^th.