Team-First Mentality, Timely Special Teams Helping Bears to Strong Close
It was a Sunday evening showdown in Chocolatetown for the Bears against in-state rival Wilkes- Barre Scranton Penguins, where team toughness and timely scoring lifted the Chocolate and White to a 4-1 win in grand style. Hershey notched win no. 52 on the season – setting an American Hockey League record in a 72-game season previously held by the 2022-23 Calgary Wranglers (51 wins).
Just before the halfway point in the opening frame, the Bears faithful rejoiced what looked like a goal from the stick of Bogdan Trineyev. After a lengthy review by the referees, they determined the puck hit the cross bar and popped out without fully crossing the goal line.
Luckily for the Bears, they would escape the first period with a 1-0 lead thanks to late power play goal by defenseman Logan Day at 19:55 of the stanza. Day’s shot deflected off a Penguin, past the screen by Alex Limoges and into the net glove side past netminder Joel Blomqvist.
The Penguins would tie the game at one apiece at 4:02 of the second. Vinnie Hinostroza jammed a loose puck past Shepard following a great net-front drive by Penguins blueliner Dmitri Samorukov. Shepard made the initial save, but Hinostroza was left alone at the side of the net to pounce on the loose puck.
Hershey ran into some penalty trouble towards the tail end of the second period and first half of the third period, but the penalty kill came up strong – resulting in the Bears going one to the good on the scoreboard.
With a fight to his credit in the second period, defenseman Dmitry Osipov earned a secondary assist in a painful way at 4:13 of the third period while shorthanded. Osipov thwarted a Penguin streaking down the slot untouched by laying out to block a shot. Sutter corralled the puck and zipped it up the ice to a streaking Jimmy Huntington – beating Blomqvist five-hole to put the Bears up 2-1.
“It’s one of those moments where you don’t really think,” said Osipov. “I just saw a guy going right down Broadway. The only hope I had was to lay down and try to block it. Looking back at it, it probably wasn’t the best way to do it since I went down face first. Thank God it didn’t hit me in the face.”
“That blocked shot on the power play was the turning point of the game,” said Huntington – the beneficiary of unselfish play by Osipov. “If he doesn’t block that shot, it might be in. He never complains. He’s always ready to play forward or defenseman. He’s a Swiss army knife.”
Hershey tacked on two more tallies to cap a three-goal third period. During a five-on-three man advantage for the full two minutes, Mike Vecchione hit pay dirt from the slot past the blocker side to make it 3-1 at 15:46. Exactly two minutes later, Matthew Phillips scored into a vacant cage about 180 feet to widen the margin to three goals.
“I thought it was a really good effort,” head coach Todd Nelson said. “I thought [Saturday Night’s] game in Wilkes-Barre, we didn’t wake up until the second period. I thought we played hard for 60 minutes. The special teams were key [Sunday] night. A couple of power-play goals and we scored a shorthanded goal. Our kill did a really good job.”
Goaltender Hunter Shepard stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn his 27 th win of the season. Hershey ended the 12-game regular season series against the Penguins with a 9-3 record, including a 6-0 record at home.
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, April 17, at home against the Charlotte Checkers. The
regular season concludes three days later at home against Charlotte.
Photo Credit: Hershey Bears / Tori Hartman
