In the 300th regular-season meeting between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey, the latest chapter came down to overtime and the Bears walked away with the 4-3 win Friday night at GIANT Center.
The Penguins had the game in hand late, building a 3-1 lead in the third period before Hershey clawed back to force extra time. Taylor Gauthier turned aside 43 shots in another busy night in net, but the Bears finally broke through on their 47th shot of the game, ending his bid for a sixth straight victory.
The finish came 3:30 into overtime. Gauthier rushed out of his crease to beat a Bears forward to a loose puck and knocked it away, but Josh Dunne collected it along the right-wing boards and lifted it into the empty net to seal it.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton opened the scoring midway through the first period when a crisp passing sequence set up Hugh McGing for a power-play goal. Hershey answered 4 1/2 minutes later on a tying goal from rookie Lynden Lakovic.
The Penguins also survived a 57-second five-on-three late in the opening period, with Gauthier and the penalty killers holding the line to send the game into the first intermission even.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton went back in front at 10:26 of the second period after a wild scramble around the Hershey crease. The Penguins had already hit the post when the puck stayed alive in the crease, and Harrison Brunicke was able to step into a shot and hammer it past Cal Petersen.
Hershey’s comeback started early in the third, when a fifth Penguins penalty of the night gave the Bears another power play. Avery Hayes picked Johnny Brodzinski’s pocket and raced away for a shorthanded breakaway, finishing for his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
That goal seemed to flip the momentum. A Penguins turnover in their own zone led to Spencer Smallman snapping home the next one at the seven-minute mark, and then Bears captain Louie Belpedio tied it at 3-3 with a shot through traffic at 13:01.
The overtime session was frantic, with the teams combining for nine shots before Dunne ended it. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton finished 1-for-3 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill, including the shorthanded goal, but still took its second loss of the week. Petersen earned his first career win over the Penguins with 26 saves.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton returns home Saturday to face the Hamilton Hammers in the teams’ first-ever meeting.
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