HERSHEY, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins saw their streak of three straight wins come to an end as the Hershey Bears were able to claim a 2-1 shootout victory on Saturday at GIANT Center.
The first period ended in a scoreless deadlock despite Wilkes-Barre/Scranton owning a 12-4 shot advantage to go along with 1:25 on a 5-on-3 advantage. 
Hershey came out with the early energy in the second and went ahead, 1-0, at 5:10 as Erik Bergdoerfer floated a shot from the blueline that sailed through a screen and past Penguins goalie Jeff Zatkoff. The tally ended Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s shutout streak at 167:24, that stretched over four games, dating back to Dec. 27, 2014 versus the Norfolk Admirals.
Matia Marcantuoni helped the Penguins answer four minutes later with his second goal in as many games. Nick D’Agostino had his point shot deflect up in the air and drop down between hashmarks, where Marcantuoni was gathered the bouncing puck and beat Hershey netminder Pheonix Copley over the right shoulder.
The 1-1 score carried into the third, where the Bears continued to build momentum, outshooting the Penguins by an 11-4 margin. Zatkoff was able to keep the slate clean in the period to help send the game into overtime.
The game-winning goal would not materialize in the extra session or over four rounds of the ensuing shootout. In the fifth frame, Philippe Cornet fired a wrist shot over the glove of Zatkoff before Copley got a pad Tom Kotstopoulos’ bid to extend the shootout.
Zatkoff’s record falls to 11-6-2 despite stopping 28-of-29 through overtime and 4-of-5 Bears shooters. Copley made 25 saves on 26 shots and was perfect over the five rounds of the shootout.
You must be logged in to post a comment.