While looking to regain control of the series over the Wilkes-Barre\/Scranton Penguins after their disappointing overtime loss on Wednesday night, the Hershey Bears hit a rough patch of road, yielding three unanswered goals in the first period, eventually falling to their neighbors to the north, 6-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just can\u2019t make mistakes,\u201d commented Hershey\u2019s head coach, Bob Woods. \u201cA missed assignment, a missed communication on the second one, and a power play goal. It\u2019s one of those things where you can\u2019t make those mistakes early in the game because they feed off them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Penguins\u2019 Luca Caputi stretched his team\u2019s lead to 4-0 at before Grant McNeill finally got the Bears on the board with his first playoff goal at 18:56 of the second period.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a pretty simple-minded guy when it comes to offense,\u201d chuckled McNeill. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to see too many dangles here. I pretty much get the puck to the net and drive. That\u2019s what our line does and that\u2019s what has been successful for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only was the goal McNeill\u2019s first playoff goal, it was also the first taste of AHL playoff action for the 6th year pro.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s what I expected,\u201d said McNeill of the intensity level of the game. \u201cIt\u2019s the second best league in North America and everybody brings their best game to the playoffs. I\u2019ve been waiting to get in all playoff season, and I was glad to have the opportunity and I\u2019ll hopefully get in a lot of games to help the boys out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Pinizzotto\u2019s goal at 4:47, and a power play opportunity just past the midway point through the third period gave a glimmer of hope to Bears\u2019 fans. However, Hershey failed to generate any further momentum on the chance, with Mark Letestu scoring for the baby Pens soon after the expiration of the penalty to essentially seal the game. <\/p>\n
Keith Aucoin\u2019s power play goal and Janne Pesonen\u2019s empty net goal finished out the scoring for the evening, giving the Penguins the victory, and knotting the series at two.<\/p>\n
Even though the loss was a hard one for the Bears to take, McNeill stated that the size of the loss is inconsequential heading into tomorrow\u2019s pivotal matchup.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s a one, two, or three goal loss; we have to focus, starting now, analyze our game from tonight, and learn from our mistakes. It\u2019s a new game tomorrow.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"