Too Many Mistakes; Baby Pens Down Bears

Wilkes-Barre, PA – Philipp Grubauer is scored on in the third period of Hershey’s 5-3 loss to the Penguins on Wednesday night (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)

We hate to bring up bad memories, especially since the correct mentality in hockey is to continuously move forward. However it’s worth it to briefly reflect back on how our playoff hopes and dreams, as well as the Mike Haviland era ended a year ago. Back-to-back road games in Norfolk, in mid-April; Both must win games, and both dropped by the Bears in regulation.

Now currently, we’re thankfully nowhere near as dire and concerning of a situation. Even after dropping a 5-3 decision to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the first of two meetings this week.

We could recap every goal scored and break down each key play in the hockey game, but that’s for Scott Stuccio to take care of on the game’s official recap on HersheyBears.com. Let’s get down to the details on why the Bears fell short Wednesday night to the Penguins for the fifth time this season in 11 meetings.

Philipp Grubauer shoots away the puck in frustration after Hershey’s 5-3 loss to Wilkes-Barre. (Kyle Mace)

Unforced minor penalties and a lack of success in defensive zone puck battles. Just like how coaches preach limiting unforced turnovers in hockey, there’s also an importance in unforced minor penalties. The Chocolate and White were shorthanded four times throughout the 60 minutes contest. That doesn’t sound terrible until you learn three of those four minors were for too many men on the ice. Unacceptable.

Two of those three bench minors proved to have a significant effect on the game. The second bench minor of the game occurred at the 16:06 mark of the middle stanza, and was served by Tim Kennedy. It took the Bears off the power-play, and opened the ice to 4-on-4 hockey. 22 seconds later, Jayson Megna sprung a pass forward to Barry Goers, who redirected it past Philipp Grubauer for his first tally of the season. That surrendered Hershey’s first of two one-goal leads throughout the night.

In the next period, Tom Kostopolous scored to put Wilkes-Barre up 4-3 with 3:23 left in regulation. For the Bears, now it’s crunch time, time to respond. Get the puck in deep, go to work on the forecheck and get Grubauer on the bench. With the puck in the Bears’ defensive end and one minute left on the game clock, Hershey is called for their THIRD bench minor of the night for too many men. It set up an insurance power-play goal in the final minute by Conor Sheary to round out the final score at 5-3 Penguins. These are classic examples of two, unforced minor penalties changing the entire complexion of a hockey game.

Wilkes-Barre throughout the night also continuously won 50-50 puck battles beneath the goal line in Hershey’s defensive end, leading to more scoring chances near the net. That was a big factor in the Penguins’ run of three unanswered goals in the third period.

The biggest question moving forward is of course, how will the Hershey Bears respond to this current dosage of adversity? They have lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time in three months. Only time will tell, as the Chocolate and White are set for two road games this weekend in Binghamton and Wilkes-Barre.