Tonight, the Bears took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the first time this season, the fans in the Giant Center came together for Hockey Fights Cancer night. This is a night where we honor those we’ve lost and support those who are still fighting or have beaten cancer. It’s personally one of my favorite nights of the year as the hockey community and two rivals come together for this event.

There was a hockey game to play though and as always when its Bears versus Penguins there were fireworks all night.

First Period

It would start off quickly for the visiting Penguins. Only 55 seconds into the period, a shot from the point by Filip Kral had eyes and potentially hit a Bear in front, as it beat Hunter Shepard for an early 1-0 lead for the Baby Penguins.

But, the Bears showed resilience, as they have all season, and did not back down from the early deficit. They continued to put some pressure on Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Sergei Murashov and it paid off with just under 12 minutes left in the period. It was a mini two-on-one between Riley Sutter and Bogdan Trineyev, which Trineyev finished off to tie up the game at one.

That’s the scoreline the period would end at, with the Bears holding a 10-6 advantage in the shots on goal category.

Second Period

The second period started off a a back and forth between power play opportunities for both teams. The Bears had an early opportunity that was killed by the Penguins and the had to kill of a Penguins power play chance right after that.

Hershey had a second opportunity halfway through the period that also did not go anywhere, and when the Baby Pens got their second power play chance, they made no mistake. A bit of bad luck for the Bears in this case, as Aaron Ness was hit in the shoulder from a shot from the point that sat there in front of the net. It was on a platter for Ville Koivunen, who was just able to get enough on the shot to put it past Hunter Shepard to make it 2-1 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Three minutes later, the Bears would get the equalizer. Vincent Iorio, with an absolute snipe, put it past Murashov to tie the game at two. It did not stay tied for long though, as a bad change by the Bears saw Emil Benstrom get left all alone for a breakaway that he made no mistake on. That goal made it 3-2 Penguins with just over two minutes left in the second.

The Bears would get a late power play chance that they wouldn’t convert on before the period was over and would have 47 seconds of carryover time on the man advantage to start the third.

Third Period

The Bears started the third period exactly the way they needed to. They converted on the remaining power play time, with a Chase Priskie blast only 39 seconds into the period tying this game up at three.

The Bears would then fall behind after a late chance at the very end of a power play for the Baby Pens, with Filip Kral scoring his second of the night. Shepard was screen on the shot and Kral once again hit pay dirt to put WBS up 4-3.

It would take only 9 seconds for the Bears to tie the game right back up, with Ethen Frank calling his own number on a two-on-one with Mike Sgarbossa to make it 4-all with just over 12 minutes left in the period.

It would continue to go back and forth between both teams throughout the period, with both Shepard and Murashov making some key saves. But it would be the Penguins who would get the last laugh, as Rutger McGroarty would convert on a two-on-one to make it 5-4 Penguins with 1:15 left in the period. That would be all Wilkes-Barre needed as they held the line and took both points from the Bears tonight.

Post-Game Quoteables

Todd Nelson: “When you play against a good team like Wilkes-Barre, you better make sure you’re playing a playoff style game. That means passes being sharp because when you make unforced errors that’s when you have issues.”

Aaron Ness: “It’s a huge game, we know they’re going to be coming. They’re a good hockey team and it’s going to be another tough, playoff style game. We know we have to change some things up, we’re going to watch the tape, the coaching staff is great, they’ll help us clean some stuff up and we’ll go from there.”- On the team’s plan going into Wednesday’s rematch with Wilkes-Barre.