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Hershey Bears lose in last second to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 2-1

By Ian Oland

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November 3, 2023 10:10 pm

The Hershey Bears lost a heartbreaker to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night.

Baby Pens forward Marc Johnstone beat Bears goaltender Hunter Shepard with 0.5 seconds left on the clock to give WBS a 2-1 win. The point shot appeared to click off Ryan Hofer’s stick before wobbling past Shepard’s blocker to the top corner.

[Editor’s note: The time on the score bug was inaccurate in the video WBS posted.]

The goal marred what was an otherwise sterling performance from the Bears who limited the Baby Penguins to 24 shots on the night.

Mike Vecchione scored the only goal for the Bears, a one-timer from the bumper spot on an early first period power play. The goal marked the ROAR inventor’s fourth goal of the season. Mike Sgarbossa registered the primary assist — his eighth apple of the season — while Chase Priskie got the secondary assist.

The Bears will return home to host the Bridgeport Islanders at Giant Center on Saturday. Through Friday, November 3, the Bears have a 7-3-0 record and (at publishing) have the most standings points (14) in the AHL.

Here’s how the Bears lined up tonight.

Below is Hershey’s press release recapping the game:

LAST-SECOND GOAL DEALS BEARS 2-1 LOSS TO PENGUINS

Vecchione scores power-play goal for Hershey, but Wilkes-Barre/Scranton escapes with win

(Wilkes-Barre Township, PA – Nov. 3, 2023) – A buzzer-beater in the final second of regulation dealt the Hershey Bears (7-3-0-0) a 2-1 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (5-4-0-0) on Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.

BOX SCORE

Hershey took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 6:27 of the first period when Mike Sgarbossa centered the puck along the half-board to Mike Vecchione in the slot, who fired a shot past Joel Blomqvist for his fourth of the season. Chase Priskie earned a secondary assist.

Hunter Shepard kept the Bears in the lead early in the second as a broken play at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton blue line led to a 2-on-0 breakaway for the Penguins, but Vecchione raced back to partially break up Jansen Harkins’ shot, forcing it to wobble on net, where Shepard was able to kick it aside.

The Penguins eventually broke through late in the frame as Harkins made his way down low and found Alex Nylander above the hash-marks, and Nylander one-timed a shot that beat Shepard at 19:23 to draw the score level at 1-1.

The game appeared to be headed for overtime in the waning seconds of regulation, but the Penguins stunned the Bears when Harkin’s shot was deflected by Marc Johnstone and beat Shepard with half a second remaining on the clock.

Shots finished 24-20 in favor of the Penguins. Shepard went 22-for-24 in his first loss of the season for Hershey; Blomqvist went 19-for-20 in the victory for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hershey was 1-for-5 on the power play; the Penguins went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Bears return home to host the Bridgeport Islanders at GIANT Center on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m., as they welcome their Atlantic Division opponent to Hershey for the first time this season.

Screenshot: @WBSPenguins/X

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