The Hershey Bears (14-5-2-0) saw their five-game win streak come to an end on Sunday at Giant Center, with a 7-3 defeat at the hands of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (11-6-1-2).
Sam Anas opened the scoring for Hershey 1:19 into the game when he skated into the offensive zone with Connor McMichael on a give-and-go and beat Filip Lindberg with a backhand shot to the glove side for his fifth of the season to put the Bears up 1-0. Henrik Borgstrom also had an assists on the goal.
Filip Hallander tied it at 1-1 for the Penguins at 10:02 when he grabbed a rebound off the pads of Zach Fucale and sent the puck into the net.
Minutes later, Hendrix Lapierre scored a power-play goal to put the Bears ahead 2-1, with his sixth of the season during a 5-on-3 man advantage. He sent the puck into the defensive end then hustled up the ice and fired a wrist shot past the blocker of Lindberg at 12:05.
The Penguins then drew even again at 16:16 when Alexander Nylander collected a power-play goal, making it 2-2.
Mike Sgarbossa gave the Bears a 3-2 edge with his fifth goal of the season at 17:25, when he and Vecchione grabbed the loose puck along the half-boards and Sgarbossa fired a shot into the top-right corner. For Vecchione, the helper was the 100th of his professional career.
The Penguins took control in the second stanza when Valtteri Puustinen scored a power-play goal 42 seconds into the frame to tie the score at 3-3.
That goal started a five-goal run for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, as Mitch Reinke netted one at 1:34 to put the visitors up 4-3. Drew O’Connor tallied at 2:07, Jonathan Gruden found the net at 3:36 and Tyler Sikura capped the scoring binge at 7:49, giving Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a run of five goals in a span of 7:07.
“They came in off a bad loss and you could sense in the second period things fell apart every time we tried to finish something, and we gave up way too many, way too many odd man rushes,” Bears coach Todd Nelson said. “When things like that happen guys try to do too much on their own and that’s like putting gas on a fire.”
Sikura’s goal chased Fucale in net with Justin Kapelmaster, who made his Bears debut after signing a professional tryout agreement earlier in the day, stopped all 10 shots he faced.
Shots finished 31-24 favoring Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Fucale The Bears were 1-for-5 on the power play, while the Penguins went 2-for-2 with the man advantage.
Hershey continues the 2022-23 season on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. when the Charlotte Checkers visit the GIANT Center for the first time this season.
Bears Notes:
The American Hockey League announced that Hunter Shepard was named the AHL Goalie of the Month for November. Shepard recorded a perfect 6-0-0 record in six starts during the month, posting a 1.63 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage for the Chocolate and White. He stopped 147-of-157 shots, and his strong play helped the Bears climb to the top of the AHL standings.
Shepard is the first Bears netminder to earn this honor since future NHL All-Star Braden Holtby was named the AHL Goalie of the Month nearly 10 years ago in December of 2012.
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