WILKES BARRE/SCRANTON, Pa – On Saturday night, the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins took on the Hershey Bears in their home opener at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza. These teams pose one of the biggest rivalries in the AHL and the game held up to fans expectations, although they may not have liked the outcome. Keith Aucoin’s power-play goal early in the third period led the Bears to a 3-2 win over the Penguins.
The Bears started their lead halfway through the first period with a goal scored by Kyle Greentree. The Penguins came back to tie the game at 15:27 when Brian Gibbons raced down the ice to put a stolen puck past Hershey goalie, Dany Sabourin. However, Hershey quickly regained the lead only seconds later when Matthew Ford fired a shot past Brad Thiessen from the right wall.
Recently acquired Niko Dimitrakos scored a power-play goal at 1:06 in the second when he sent a pass from Colin McDonald right under Sabourin. The score was tied 2-2 until Aucoin’s goal in the third. The Penguins were not able to catch up even though they had several opportunities to do so.
One of the concerns that Coach John Hynes saw during the game was many wall-play turnovers.
“We would need to do a better job keeping that from occurring. Even though we were pretty good, we weren’t good enough to win, “ Hynes said.
Thiessen was able to stop 20 out of the 23 shots for Wilkes Barre/Scranton, while Sabourin stopped 23 out of 25 for Hershey.
The Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins continue their season at home on Sunday, October 09, 2011 at 5:05 pm against the Connecticut Whale.
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