The Hershey Bears lost big in their first game back from the AHL’s holiday break — a 5-2 failing to the Eastern Conference-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins — but they did get goals from two of their top forwards.
Bogdan Trineyev scored his seventh goal of the season, sending a shot from the top of the circles past Penguins goaltender Sergei Murashov. The goal, which came 8:30 into the first period, was Hershey’s first goal of the night.
Later, 1:12 into the third period, Ivan Miroshnichenko took a pass from Spencer Smallman and beat Musharov from the slot for his fifth goal of the year. Ilya Protas registered his team-leading 24th point of the season, after getting a secondary assist on the play.
The goals from the Bears’ two Russians were not enough, though, to contain a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton team that exploded for five goals in the first period. Gabe Klassen (2), Nolan Renwick, Raivis Ansons, and Phil Tomasino all scored in the Penguins’ home victory.
“It’s not the start we want,” Bears head coach Derek King said. “We’ve preached it before. We want to be a team like Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Providence and stuff like that, you have to play three periods, and that’s what that team does, and we didn’t – we only played two periods. The second and third, we tried to focus on just playing the right way and doing more of the little things we need to do.”
The Bears will not have to wait long to get back on the ice. They play at home Sunday against the Charlotte Checkers at 5 pm.
