HERSHEY, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins extended their point streak to 10 games (9-0-0-1) with a 5-1 win over the Hershey Bears on Sunday evening at Giant Center.
The Penguins (10-2-0-1, 21 points, first place in Atlantic Division) saw 10 different players pick up points as they downed the Bears (6-7-0-2, 14 points, fifth place in Atlantic Division) for the second time in three tries this season.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s impressive offensive performance came despite the team mustering just 13 shots on the afternoon, its lowest total on the season.
Jarred Tinordi opened the scoring for the visitors, potting his second goal in as many games just 2:39 into the first period. Zach Aston-Reese extended the lead to 2-0 five minutes later, tucking a puck between the pads of Vítek Vaněček during the Penguins’ first power play of the afternoon.
The 2-0 advantage lasted until the 11:58 mark of the second frame, when Dustin Gazley capitalized on a strange bounce to beat Casey DeSmith for his first goal of the 2017-18 campaign.
The Penguins answered back quickly, with Thomas Di Pauli picking the upper right corner 58 seconds after Gazley’s goal to make it a 3-1 game. Daniel Sprong followed suit exactly one minute later, notching his team-leading ninth goal of the season from a seemingly impossible angle, granting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 4-1 lead.
Colin Smith iced the game with an empty net goal – his first tally in a Penguins uniform – with 3:07 to play in regulation.
DeSmith made 31 saves, upping his record to 7-0-1 on the season, while Vaněček stopped just eight attempts in his season debut for Hershey.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has now won three straight games after dropping a shootout decision to the Bears on Nov. 5, and has picked up 19 of a possible 20 points in its past 10 games.
With Penguins match report
You must be logged in to post a comment.