The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, riding the hot goaltending of Adam Berkhoel, and decisively winning the special teams\u2019 showdown, defeated the Hershey Bears on Saturday night at the Wachovia Arena, 4-1, taking a 3-2 lead in the best of seven East
\nDivision Finals.<\/p>\n
Blitzed by the Penguins for three goals in the first period on Friday night, the Bears withstood an early surge off the opening faceoff, before regaining their composure and even generating much of the offense through the opening seven minutes of the contest, before Greg Amadio\u2019s retaliatory roughing penalty at 8:25 started the unraveling.<\/p>\n
With Amadio serving his sentence, Chris Minard, the baby Pens\u2019 leading goal scorer in the regular season and post-season, struck on the power play at 8:55 to give the home team a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n
A botched line change by the Chocolate and White at 12:32 led to a bench minor penalty, and ultimately the second goal of the game and period, a power play strike by Luca Caputi at 13:43.<\/p>\n
The suddenly vulnerable Hershey penalty-killing unit, which did not allow a single strike against in their first round sweep of the Philadelphia Phantoms, has been victimized on 8 of the Penguins\u2019 17 goals scored in the series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are just not doing anything fancy, they are just throwing pucks on the net and winning battles,\u201d said Bears\u2019 head coach, Bob Woods. \u201cI think on our power play, we\u2019re not winning the battles. We are losing a lot of battles, whether it\u2019s to keep possession or to track down loose pucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hershey forward, Darren Reid, appearing in his first playoff contest of the season, wristed a shot by Pens\u2019 netminder, Adam Berkhoel, at 5:19 of the second period to cut the Bears\u2019 deficit to 2-1 and to put a halt to Berkhoel\u2019s shutout hopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (Berkhoel) is a great goalie, and there\u2019s not too many of those shots that get by him,\u201d said Reid. It was a nice play by Joudrey to bring it out wide. I just put everything I had behind it and went in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reid, the five year AHL veteran, who celebrated his 26th birthday on Friday, offered his sentiment on whether the Wachovia Arena is the toughest visiting building to play in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is; their fans can be very loud,\u201d Reid said. Everybody knows that when you come to Wilkes-Barre, it\u2019s going to be a tough battle.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nick Johnson\u2019s power play goal at 15:08 of the second period was the Penguins\u2019 response to the Reid goal, re-establishing their two-goal lead at 3-1.<\/p>\n
Jeff Taffe\u2019s empty net, shorthanded goal, with less than a minute to play in regulation, finished out the goal scoring for the event.
\nThe series shifts back down I-81 to Hershey\u2019s Giant Center for game six on Sunday afternoon, with the Bears needing a win to force a game seven at the same venue on Tuesday evening. <\/p>\n
Reid, after the game, said that the Hershey\u2019s fans have the potential to be just as big a factor in helping the Bears rebound from their dire predicament, as the Penguins\u2019 fans were to the success of their team during the previous three games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our fans are very important to our club. If we get on them early (on Sunday) and get the first goal, hopefully, we can keep on rolling with our fans behind us,\u201d said Reid.<\/p>\n
If Reid and his teammates fail to get the tide rolling back into their favor with a win on Sunday, they will be rolling back to Giant Center on Monday to say their season-ending goodbyes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"