HERSHEY, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had their season-high, seven-game winning streak snapped by the Hershey Bears in a 4-1 loss at Giant Center on Sunday evening.
One night after Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (38-23-8-1) bested Hershey on its home ice by the same score, the Bears returned the favor with a special teams onslaught. All four of Hershey’s goals came while the team was skating a man up or a man down.
The Bears ended the Penguins’ streak of 26-consecutive penalties killed with a power-play strike with 4.3 seconds left in the first period. Logan Day launched a slap shot towards the net that then careened off of a Penguins penalty killer and past Joel Blomqvist.
Vinnie Hinostroza, who was reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday night, scored to tie the game four minutes into the second stanza. Dmitri Samorukov walked all the way down from the blue line to the Bears’ crease, but when his backhand-forehand move failed, Hinostroza was standing at the far post to slam it across the goal line.
The Penguins were awarded a pair of power plays to start the third period, but the latter man advantage resulted in the Bears taking back the lead. Jimmy Huntington scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 9:08 of the third to put his team up, 2-1.
Hershey was later given a full two-minute, five-on-three man advantage, leading to Mike Vecchione pushing the Bears ahead by two with 4:14 left in regulation. Matthew Phillips secured victory for his team with an empty netter two minutes later.
Blomqvist recorded 21 saves on 25 shots faced. Hunter Shepard turned away 23 shots in the win for Hershey.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has two more games left in its regular season before starting its run in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs. The Penguins’ next game is against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Friday, Apr. 19. Game time for the Penguins’ penultimate game of its 25th season is 7:00 p.m. at XL Center.
Calder Cup Playoff packages as well as season-ticket packages for the 2024-25 campaign are on sale now. Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbookand Premium Seating plans are available by reaching out to the Penguins directly at (570) 208-7367. Individual-game tickets are also available by visiting Ticketmaster.com, the Mohegan Sun Arena Box Office or calling the Penguins’ front office at (570) 208-7367.
