Bears Cruise Past Penguins to Take Series Lead
Published on May 7, 2016 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Hershey Bears News Release
WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, Pa. - Chris Bourque scored twice and Chandler Stephenson tallied three assists, helping awaken the Hershey Bears' offense in a 5-2 decision over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
After surviving early pressure and two opposing power plays, the Bears grabbed the game's first goal on hard work by Aaron Ness. Battling to get the puck free along the right boards, Ness rolled a pass into the low slot. Dustin Gazley picked it up and from his backhand, he sent a shot over the right pad of Casey DeSmith and into the net at 18:40 for his first of the playoffs.
One team eventually had to capitalize against the other on special teams, as penalty killing has been stellar on both sides of the ice. Hershey would survive a two-man disadvantage and later would finally bury a power play goal just two seconds into its fifth chance. Stephenson pulled a clean faceoff win right back to Bourque, who ripped a slapper through traffic and home at 12:34 for a 2-0 Hershey lead.
Two shifts later, the Bears padded their lead. Carter Camper deftly stickhandled down the right wing, and made a perfect cross-crease pass right onto the tape of Jakub Vrana for a slam-dunk at 14:08.
The teams would skate four-on-four early in the third, and the Bears would capitalize when Bourque grabbed a Stephenson pass and sent an off-wing wrist shot from the right circle into the upper-left corner 32 seconds into the frame.
On the same four-on-four, Niclas Andersen pinched in from the point to one-time a pass from Jake Guentzel under the crossbar, snapping Justin Peters' shutout streak against the Penguins at over five periods.
But despite allowing that goal, Hershey stormed back the other way and forced a turnover in the left wing corner. Garrett Mitchell then found Liam O'Brien in the slot for a one-knee one-timer that eluded DeSmith at 2:52 and gave the Bears a 5-1 lead.
DeSmith would be replaced by Tristan Jarry at that point, who stopped all five shots he faced. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would tack on their second goal on its second two-man advantage of the game, when Guentzel collected a feed from Tom Kostopoulos and hurried a shot over Peters at 8:52.
That would be as close as the hosts would come. Peters stopped 22 of 24 shots to improve to 5-2 in the postseason, while DeSmith suffered his second consecutive loss, stopping 17 of 22 shots in 42:52 of action. Hershey finished the night 1-for-8 on the power play and 8-for-9 on the penalty kill. Hershey now leads the best-of-seven series two games to one.
Game four of the Atlantic Division Finals will be played on Monday, May 9 at 7:05 PM at Mohegan Sun Arena. Fans may catch the broadcast beginning at 6:25 PM on the Bears Radio Network of affiliates WQIC-FM 100.1, WKBO-AM 1230, via the iHeartRadio App (WHP 580 Harrisburg), or online at WHP580.com. Fans may watch the game for a small fee at AHLLive.com.
Game five will be played on Wednesday, May 11 at 7:00 PM at GIANT Center. Tickets are available at the GIANT Center box office, by calling (717) 508-BEAR, and online at TicketMaster.com.
American Hockey League Stories from May 7, 2016
- Bears Cruise Past Penguins to Take Series Lead - Hershey Bears
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