Penguins Power Past Bears 6-3 in Thanksgiving Eve Classic

 

Graphic by Genevive Oliver

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defeated the Hershey Bears 6-3 on Wednesday night at Giant Center. The Penguins’ offense was led by a sensational multi-point night from their top line, highlighted by Phil Tomasino recording a rare "Gordie Howe hat trick" (a goal, two assists, and a fight) in his WBS debut. However, the Bears refused to fade, battling back from a 3-0 first-period deficit with goals from Brett Leason and a shorthand tally by Ilya Protas that brought them within one goal in the third period. Despite the Bears' rally, which was preserved by several key saves from Joel Blomqvist, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton pulled away late to secure the dominant victory.

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Lineup:

McGroarty - Tomasino - Hayes

Harvey-Pinard - Poulin - Puustinen

McDonough - Klassen - Calvert

Imama - Ansons - Gallant

Pickering - St. Ivany

Alexeyev - Brunicke

Pietila - Kemp

Blomqvist

Larsson

Hershey Bears Lineup:

Miroshnichenko - Protas - Leason

Cristall - Rybinski - Bitten

Suzdalev - Mateiko - Clarke

Smith - Cruikshank - Nachbaur

Ness - McDonald

Schueneman - Chesley

Gucciardi - Belpedio

Bjorklund

Eisele

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 13:39 of the opening period when Boko Imama scored a penalty shot goal, which is the first penalty shot faced by the Bears this season. Just seconds later, Imama and Dalton Smith dropped the gloves. Rutger McGroarty snapped a bullet shot past a screened Garin Bjorklund, near-side top corner at 8:05 after Phil Tomasino set him up to make it 2-0 for Wilkes-Barre. At 5:15, Avery Hayes fired, and the shot trickled through Bjorklund's pads 3-0. Hayes' goal was set up by Tomasino, which was his second assist of the night.

Before the first Hershey goal of the night, Sam Bitten and Phil Kemp dropped the gloves at 11:41 of the middle frame. This was Bitten's first fight as a Bear. Brett Leason found the back of the net for his first of the season when he slammed in a rebound of David Gucciardi's shot past Joel Blomqvist to make it 3-1 with 3:55 on the clock in the second period.

Ilya Protas picked up his eighth of the season when he scored the second Hershey goal, making it 3-2 early in the third period at 17:31. He scored a shorthanded goal after taking a pass from Leason as the two drove towards the Penguins' net. On a power play late in the final frame, Tomasino completed his first Gordie Howe hat trick when McGroarty whipped a no-look pass right to Tomasino, who slipped the puck under Bjorklund for the 4-2 lead. After Hayes struck the empty Hershey net to make it 5-2, Eriks Mateiko recorded his first AHL goal off a pass from Justin Nachbaur at 2:10 of the third from the right circle on a one-timer. With just seconds left to play, Sam Poulin finished the win off with an empty-netter for the 6-3 final.

Notes:

- Joel Blomqvist made a total of 30 saves for Wilkes-Barre, and Garin Bjorklund made a total of 25 saves for Hershey. ...Blomqvist improved to 3-0-0 on the season with his 30-save night at the GIANT Center.

- Alex Alexeyev, former Bears player, played his first game back at GIANT Center as a Penguin since joining the Penguins organization this past summer.

- Rutger McGroarty has scored three goals in his past three games, then picked up two assists against Hershey. He has five points: three goals, two assists.

- The penalty shot by Boko Imama is the first successfully converted penalty shot by a Bears' opponent since December 21st, 2021, vs. Laval (Rafaël Harvey-Pinard).

- With his eighth goal of the season, Ilya Protas extended his goal-scoring and point streaks to six games (six goals, five assists).

- In their traditional Thanksgiving Eve game, the Bears are now 30-21-4-2-1.