Penguins shutout Bears at home, 4-0

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON, Pa – With a score of 4-0, the Penguins won their first home game of the season when they shut out their long-time rivals, the Hershey Bears, on Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena.   Joey Mormina had a pair of goals and Brad Thiessen stopped 19 shots to take their winning streak to five games.   This is the type of game that the fans have been looking for since the season began last month.  
 
Coming into this game, the Penguins were 0-2-1-1 at home, with a record of 5-0 on the road.  
 
They were missing four defensemen, who were out due to call-ups or injuries.   Pittsburgh called up Alexandre Picard Thursday and Robert Bortuzzo Friday to fill in for Ben Lovejoy (broken wrist), Kris Letang, Paul Martin, and Matt Niskanen.   Brian Strait and Boris Valabik were out with injuries.  
 
Now the Penguins seem to be on a roll.   The trick for them is to strike early and keep on coming, which is what they did when Colin McDonald scored the first goal of the game 2:47 into the first period.   McDonald’s opportunity came when he redirected a pass from Alex Grant, which bumped into the skate of Hershey’s defenseman Patrick McNeill.   
 
The team was skating faster, checking harder, and their efforts paid off.   Goal two came from Joey Mormina with 1:45 left in the first period, when he was able to knock in a rebound shot off Hershey goaltender, Dany Sabourin.   This brought the Penguins score to 2-0.  
 
Early in the second period, the Bears seemed to put pressure on the Penguins’ defense, but the Penguins just took it in stride and counterattacked.   Jason Williams scored a breakaway goal with a shot over Sabourin’s left shoulder.   Hershey sent in Braden Holtby to relieve Sabourin after the Penguins took a 3-0 lead.   He left the game with 10 saves on 13 shots.  
 
Hershey tried to get onto the board in the third period with a power play, but didn’t succeed and pulled Holtby to try an extra man advantage.   Instead, Mormina scored an open-net goal, his second of the game, with 2:43 to play and killing the penalty.  
 
Thiessen’s victory was his fifth of the season, and also his second shutout.   The Penguins head to Binghamton on Saturday, November 5^th, where they will take on the Calder Cup Champion Senators and hopefully extend their streak to six games. Comment@prohockeynews.com Photos by Matthew.Osterstrom@prohockeynews.com