HERSHEY, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins lost their first game out of the holiday break by a score of 4-1 to the Hershey Bears at Giant Center on Wednesday night.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (15-11-3-0) fell behind 3-0 before Austin Rueschhoff made it a game midway through the third period. Unfortunately for the Penguins, the deficit was still too much to overcome.
A neck-and-neck first period ultimately ended in a 1-0 lead for the Bears. After Corey Andonovski rang a breakaway shot off the crossbar, Hershey came right back the other way and saw Alex Limoges light the lamp with 2:21 left before the first intermission.
Ethen Frank extended the Bears’ lead to two after a tic-tac-toe setup from Joe Snively and Mike Sgarbossa at 12:18 of the second period. Snively scored during a four-on-three power play 93 seconds later, making it 3-0.
Taking advantage of an ill-timed line change by the Bears, the Penguins snapped Hunter Shepard’s shutout bid with a four-on-one rush. Taylor Fedun shuffled the puck into Rueschhoff’s wheelhouse, who then drove the puck to the back of the net at 11:48 of the third.
However, Pierrick Dubé locked up the win for Hershey with an empty-net goal with 4:04 left in regulation.
Magnus Hellberg finished with 33 saves on 36 shots faced, while Shepard recorded 20 saves in net for the Bears.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next home games feature back-to-back tilts with the Charlotte Checkers on Friday, Dec. 29 and Saturday, Dec. 30. Friday’s game will begin at 7:05 p.m., and the club’s last game of the calendar year is slated for a Saturday night 6:05 p.m. puck drop at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
Season-ticket packages for the Penguins’ 25th season of hockey are on sale now. Full-Season, 22-game, 12-game, Flexbook and 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.
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