Baby Pens Extend Winning Streak, Humble Bears 6-2
Todd Ford takes over for a defeated Dany Sabourin. Photo by Kyle M.
The sarcasm expressed by the crowd tonight was palpable. Between the bronx cheers and the slow claps, Hershey fans weren’t being quiet about their disapproval. But that wasn’t how it seemed it would be. There was a lot of hype for this game. Of course the Bears and the Penguins have one of the biggest rivalries in the AHL. And the Penguins were coming into this game as the only undefeated team in the league. The Bears were hoping to end Wilkes-Barre’s winning streak at seven games.
For the home crowd, this game started out perfect. Keith Aucoin beat Curry short side just 49 seconds into the game. The crowd was roaring and it felt like this would be a great game. Then Wilkes-Barre/Scranton tied it up only 26 seconds later. The game was never the same.
Sean Collins celebrated his 27th birthday with a hat trick…of penalties. Interference, tripping, and hooking. The worst part? Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s only two power play goals came while he was in the box. Grounds for worst birthday ever?
Todd Ford finally got to see his first game of the season. He had the unenviable position of joining the game down 2 goals. Dany Sabourin, looking to start a winning streak after finding victory in Syracuse last night, was pulled after letting in 3 goals on 7 shots. That’s a .571 save percentage. Ouch. However, I thought Ford was pretty solid considering the mess he was coming in to. Hershey’s defense was not giving him a lot of help.
Zach Miskovic had a missile of a goal in the third period. I think it deserves some credit for the sheer power behind it. It was his first goal of the year. Dylan Yeo and Dmitri Kugryshev had assists, giving Yeo his first AHL point of this season and Kugryshev’s first AHL point ever. Kudos.
The final score of 6-2 in favor of the Penguins almost seems too nice. Let me tell you, it felt like a much wider deficit.
To sum up: I think it would be best if we just forgot about tonight and moved on. The Penguins will be brought down eventually.
Tonight’s Notes:
- Aucoin is now 2 goals away from his 200th AHL career goal.
- Aucoin’s goal has brought his point streak to all nine games in the season.
- Andrew Gordon‘s point streak came to an end tonight with eight games in a row.
- Trevor Bruess received a game misconduct in the third period after he began fighting after Patrick Wellar had already begun his fight. This secondary altercation warrants an ejection.
- Least favorite stat: Hershey went 0 for 7 on the power play. It was downright painful how often they gave up odd man rushes. They even allowed a shorthanded goal to Joe Vitale.
- You know what g the biggest cheer of thie night? This:
Actual three stars of the game:
1. Chris Conner (WBS)
2. Andrew Hutchinson (WBS)
3. John Curry (WBS)
Sweetest Hockey On Earth’s three stars of the game:
1. Aucoin: first goal of the night, 9 game point streak
2. The fans who didn’t leave: self-explanatory
3. Coco: What? He scored some goals during intermission
Video Highlights of the Game
More photos from Kyle M.:
Aucoin just seconds before his first goal of the night.
GMGM returns to Giant Center for the second time this season.
Wellar and his fight
Bruess and his “secondary altercation”
Miskovic’s bomb of a shot finds the back of the net.
