Hershey Bears

Bears Overwhelm Penguins in 5-2 Win

Photo via Hershey Bears on Instagram

Four consecutive goals were plenty for the Hershey Bears to trounce the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Mohegan Sun Arena, which gave them a 2-1 series lead in the Atlantic Division Finals.

Justin Peters made 22 saves on the night, Chris Bourque scored twice, and Chandler Stephenson had three assists in the winning effort. Casey DeSmith allowed five goals on 22 shots before he was replaced by Tristan Jarry in the third period.

Aaron Ness pinched in from the point to assist on Dustin Gazley‘s first of these playoffs. Gazley was set up in front of the net and Ness caught the Penguins puck-watching with his sliding pass. DeSmith did not get over far enough to stop Gazley’s backhand bid from tucking inside the left post.

C. Bourque’s power play strike came two minutes before the eventual game-winner from Jakub Vrana. Into the third period, Hershey held a commanding lead at 3-0 despite a very even 18-16 shots on goal margin in their favor.

The AHL MVP added another one 32 seconds in thanks to a Stephenson drop pass, making the lead four on the four-on-four goal. This goal made C. Bourque the seventh player in AHL history to reach 100 career Calder Cup Playoff points.

The Penguins added one to break the shutout streak of Justin Peters; this was Peters’ first goal allowed since 7:04 of the third period in Game 1. Niclas Andersen converted on the behind-the-goal-line pass from Carter Rowney for his first of the playoffs. Jake Guentzel added the other WB/S goal on the power play seven minutes later.

After serving his one-game suspension, Liam O’Brien scored the last of Hershey’s goals. From there, the game devolved into a penalty filled affair. Riley Barber, C. Bourque, Jean-Sebastien Dea, and Steve Oleksy all went to the box at the 3:30 mark of the third for roughing, slashing, or both.

Tyler Lewington and Matthias Platcha fought and another line brawl ensued two minutes afterward. When the final horn sounded, the Bears and Penguins combined for 64 penalty minutes, 38 of them in the final frame.

The Penguins host Game 4 on Monday night before the series shifts back to GIANT Center for Game 5 next Wednesday.

Max Wolpoff

Churchill High School graduate (2015) and current Boston University journalism student. Follow me on Twitter (@Max_Wolpoff) for game-day tweets or my random musings about being a college student.

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