HERSHEY, Pa. – When the dust settled at the end of an electrifying game, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins stood tall over the Hershey Bears, 5-4, on Saturday night at Giant Center.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (11-4-1-0) went back and forth with its bitter rival all night, securing the win on a tuck by Rutger McGroarty with 1:15 left in regulation. Defenseman Filip Král led the team’s offense overall, amassing a career-best four-point night (2G-2A).
Král found the back of the net less than a minute into the game, giving the Penguins an early lead in their first visit to Chocolatetown. However, Hershey evened the score just past the eight-minute mark on a transition goal from Bogdan Trineyev.
The second stanza began with a series of power-play opportunities traded one after the other. Eventually, the Penguins capitalized on a man advantage at 13:32 of the period. Vasily Ponomarev swept in a rebound to tally his first goal of the season and giving the Penguins a 2-1 lead.
Three minutes later, Bears blueliner Vincent Iorio knotted the score, but Emil Bemström swiftly put the Penguins back ahead with an absolute laser to the top corner behind Hunter Shepard.
A late unsportsmanlike conduct penalty committed by the Penguins allowed Hershey to begin the third frame on the power play, and Chase Priskie re-tied the game, 3-3, 34 seconds in.
Král scored his second goal and secured his fourth point of the night on another Penguins power play, putting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton ahead once again at 7:54 of the third. But just nine seconds later, Hershey’s Ethen Frank notched his league-leading 15th goal of the season, equalizing the game once more at 4-4.
In the dying embers of regulation, Rutger McGroarty bulldozed his way to the front of the net and Tristan Broz placed the puck right on his fellow rookie’s blade. McGroarty buried his chance to put the Penguins ahead for good, also giving Broz his third assist of the game.
Sergei Murashov turned aside 30 shots to earn the win in his first AHL start since Oct. 13. Shepard stopped 18 of 23 shots in defeat.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s next game is another tilt with Hershey on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Puck drop for the rematch is slated for 7:05 p.m. at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza.
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