Saturday night at the GIANT Center saw the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins build a commanding three-goal lead against the Hershey Bears, only to watch the Bears mount a furious comeback, ultimately forcing overtime and securing a 5-4 victory in a tightly contested match. Pierrick Dube punctuated the comeback with two goals, including the decisive overtime winner. Adding to the offensive surge, Ivan Miroshnichenko also netted a pair of goals for Hershey. Rutger McGroarty stays hot, grabbing his fourth goal in his past six games, as well as his 10th of the season when he opened the scoring on Saturday. Valtteri Puustinen found the back of the net twice for the Penguins. The Bears host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday, March 2nd, hoping to grab their third straight win. The Penguins will be heading home on Tuesday, March 4th to take on the Belleville Senators.
Hershey Bears Lineup:
Vecchione – Sgarbossa – Smallman
Limoges – Lapierre – Miroshnichenko
Dube – Rybinski – Philp
Strome – Sutter – Trineyev
Ness – Iorio
Alexeyev – Bear
Priskie – Perrott
Stevenson
Shepard
WBS Penguins Lineup:
Puustinen – Katchouk – Koivunen
McGroarty – Broz – Hayes
Neito – Ponomarev – Clavert
Klassen – Johnstone – De St. Phalle
Kral – Hollowell
Pickering – St. Ivany
Renouf – Brickey
Jarry
Larsson
Rutger McGroarty drew first blood, scoring his 10th of the season to put Wilkes-Barre/Scranton ahead 1-0 with 10:48 on the clock in the first period when he put it upstairs after Boris Katchouk, who received the puck from Valtteri Puustinen, handed it over to McGroarty, who struck on the power play. With little time remaining in the opening period, Ville Koivunen and Puustinen connected for a clean look atop Hershey’s crease. As Koivunen fell to the ice, he passed to Owen Pickering, who passed it back in time for him to grab ahold of it after getting back up, dropped it to Puustinen, who sent it back before skating up in front. Koivunen passed it back to Valterri from near the blue line for the second Penguins tally.
Giving the Penguins a 3-0 lead later into the middle frame, Ville Koivunen found the back of the net, firing a shot to the top corner right off the face-off at 7:36 after Mac Hollowell passed to him from the neutral zone as Koivunen was near the blue line, skating into Hershey’s zone for his 17th goal of the season. Two and a half minutes later, the Bears got on the board when Ivan Miroshnichenko got one past Tristan Jarry in front when Alex Limoges found him from behind the net after looking to his left, sending a backhanded pass to him for the first Hershey goal of the night.
Mike Vecchione pulled the Bears within 3-2 at 13:01 of the third for his 13th goal of the season when he tipped it in from Alexander Alexeyev, who received a pass from Pierrick Dube as he was skating up towards the left corner. Not long after the second Hershey goal, Ivan Miroshnichenko put in his second of the night to knot it up 3-3 at 8:24 when he deflected in Ethan Bear’s shot from the blue line after Miroshnichenko carried the puck into the Penguins’ zone before giving it to Hendrix Lapierre, who then passed back and forth with Bear a few times before Bear fired it for Miroshchenko to put it in past Tristan Jarry. Only eight seconds later, Valtteri Puustinen struck again for his second of the night and his 10th of the season to put Wilkes-Barre back in front 4-3. Boris Katchouk found Puustinen in front after Puustinen received the puck at the blue line right off the face-off, handed it over to Katchouk, who had been behind him, and Boris fed him for the fourth WBS tally. However, Dube put the game back in a knot, tying it 4-4 at 6:30. He kept the puck in the Penguins’ zone, carrying it before he fired net-front.
The Bears and Penguins went into overtime, where Pierrick Dube called game. He raced from the Bears’ zone, through the neutral zone, and into the Penguins’ zone, carrying the puck and firing from the right circle, putting the game-winner past Tristan Jarry for the 5-4 final.
Game Notes:
– Clay Stevenson made a total of 12 saves on 16 shots for Hershey.
– Tristan Jarry made a total of 31 saves on 36 shots for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
– Ivan Miroshnichenko posted nine shots on goal, matching the Bears’ single-game season-high (Vecchione, January 25th at Belleville)
– Valtteri Puustinen had a three-point night; two goals and one assist.
– Both of Pierrick Dube’s goals were unassisted, and he recorded an assist.
– Mike Sgarbossa had left the game midway through the opening frame due to an upper-body injury and did not return for the remainder of the game.
– Alexander Alexeyev was assigned to Hershey earlier in the day on a conditioning loan by the Washington Capitals, playing his first game with the Bears since the 6th of November, 2022. …He recorded the primary assist on Mike Vecchoine’s goal and logged a plus/minus of +4.
– This season, the Bears are 8-5 in overtime. Their eight victories in sudden death tops all in the league.
ITR 27: Trade Season Begins – Inside The Rink
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