HERSHEY, PA- The Hershey Bears, flying high and entering Sunday’s matinee affair at Giant Center with a perfect 5-0 record, were grounded by defensive turnovers when they fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 5-4.
In the first two minutes of the game, before many fans had settled into their seats, errant clearing attempts by Hershey defensemen Sami Lepisto and Dean Arsene had Hershey in a deep, early hole. “We came out flat and I think they came out with some good jump. A couple of costly turnovers and we were down 2-0,” Hershey coach Bob Woods said.
When a team struggles out of the gate and falls behind early in a game, sometimes the coach will call a timeout in an attempt to settle their team down. Woods, admitted that he thought about settling his team down, but elected not to use a timeout to do so: “You anticipate you are going to have (to use) one a little bit later,” he said.
Woods’ decision turned out to be a wise one when Graham Mink and Chris Bourque, returning after a one game NHL recall, scored to make it a 2-2 after one period.
Hershey, in what turned out to be a game long problem, saw a healthy share of prime scoring chances fall by the wayside in the first period, thanks to the shooter electing to try an errant pass. The trend started by a Steve Pinizzotto bid, five minutes after the Mink goal, did not go unnoticed by Woods. “I thought a lot of times, we maybe got a little too cute,” Woods said. “We were looking for that one extra move, that one extra pass, instead of just putting the puck on net.”
Early in the second period after back-to-back penalties to Andrew Gordon and Dean Arsene, Hershey was faced with the tough task of killing off a 5-on-3 Pens power play. Quintin Laing, arguably Hershey’s best penalty killer, was at his shot blocking best during the disadvantage, blocking four shots and helping the Bears stave off the attack.
As is often the case, shortly after the Pens’ 5-on-3 advantage, Hershey was afforded the same opportunity. Unlike the Pens, Hershey quickly capitalized on the situation, with Keith Aucoin seeing his pass carom off the skate of a Pens defenseman and behind a startled Jon Curry.
Curry, after stopping a Bryan Helmer point shot at 11:12, collapsed to the ice before regaining his feet and eventually leaving the game. Initially, it looked like Curry may have been shaken up after stopping the Helmer shot in the mid-section area, but that initial diagnosis proved to be incorrect. “His back stiffened up,” Pens coach Dan Bylsma said. “ It just got to the point where he did not want to put the team in jeopardy.” Adam Berkhoel replaced Curry.
Berkhoel, surprisingly, based on his two prior appearances against Hershey this year, was outstanding in his relief role, stopping a pair of Alexandre Giroux bids, including a chance in the last minute of the second period. Pens coach Dan Bylsma was not the least bit surprised by his goaltenders play, “He came in and made a couple of big saves, including the one on Giroux at the end of the period,” he said. “That would have been a tough one to stomach. That’s what a veteran guy can do.”
Giroux, with 21.2 seconds left in regulation, finally found a way to beat Berkhoel, cutting the Pens lead to 5-4. Giroux’s goal proved to be to too little, too late, when Hershey failed to get the equalizing goal in the closing seconds.
After the game, Woods, in full teaching mode said, “It’s a good learning experience. I don’t think anybody expected us to go 80-and-0 this year.” Hopefully for Woods, class was in session for his students on a Sunday afternoon.