WBS Pens, Bears warm up for playoff showdown

First Posted:

WILKES-BARRE TWP. – It took almost 54 minutes and 17 power plays to determine a winner in Friday’s matchup between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Hershey Bears.

Ben Street’s power play goal at 13:58 of the third period gave the Penguins a 4-2 win over the Bears, a team they will face in the opening round of the playoffs.

The win gives the Penguins a four-point lead over Hershey for fourth place in the division and home ice in the playoffs. It also improves the Penguins to 7-3-0-2 against the Bears this season.

Friday’s matchup saw 19 power plays and plenty of physical play, particularly from the Penguins fourth line of Zach Sill, Ryan Craig and Brandon DeFazio.

Still, if the game sent a message for the upcoming playoff series, it was one that both teams already knew.

“They know it’s going to be hard,” Sill said. “I think we reiterated what they already knew and the same with us. They’re a good team. We might have a little bit more confidence going into the playoffs against them, but we still know how dangerous they are.”

The Penguins struck first when Geoff Walker tipped a Jason Williams slapshot past Dany Sabourin for a power play goal with a minute remaining in the first period.

Things got tense in the early stages of the second period when Joey Mormina leveled Ryan Potulny – Hershey’s leading goal scorer — as he skated the puck across the blueline. Mormina caught Potulny with his head down and Potulny left the game temporarily.

“It was a good hockey hit. Clean,” said head coach John Hynes. “Like any other hit.”

DeFazio made it 2-0 in the second period when he dug the puck out of the corner and backhanded a shot for his 10th goal of the season.

Hershey answered back with a pair of goals from Kyle Greentree less than a minute apart, including a power play tally, to even things up at 2.

“We had everything going for us, they call a timeout and score the goals,” Hynes said of the period. “We just let down a little bit.”

The period could’ve been worse if it wasn’t for the Penguins penalty killers, who prevented Hershey from scoring during three consecutive power plays that spanned the last five minutes.

Street’s goal, his team-leading 27th, came during a third period power play when he deflected a Mormina shot from the point past Sabourin to make it 3-2. Nick Petersen added an empty-net goal with 16 seconds left to seal the win.

Hynes praised the play of his fourth line, who were physical throughout and stayed out of the box.

Sill said that style is the perfect way to get under a foes’ skin.

“It’s frustrating for the other team knowing that every time they touch the puck they’re going to have to have their head up,” he said. “It’s not going to be dirty, but that in-your-face hockey is frustrating to play against.”

 

Friday’s win was the 100th of Hynes’ career – a milestone he achieved in less than two seasons. “It’s a direct result of having excellent players that are committed and an organization that gives you great support,” he said. “But it doesn’t get done without the players.”

The Penguins killed off 8-of-9 Hershey power plays, while they converted three of the 10 chances they received.

D Carl Sneep (injury), C Matt Rust and LW Steve MacIntyre (Pittsburgh) were scratched for the Penguins.

The Penguins host the Connecticut Whale at 7:05 tonight.