The Hershey Bears got a huge road victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday at Mohegan Arena, starting their weekend three-in-three with a big two standings points.
The Bears got goals from Andrew Cristall, Sonny Milano, Ryan Chesley, and Bogdan Trineyev. Mitch Gibson made 30 saves on 32 shots, earning his seventh victory of the season.
Hershey won the game in the second period, scoring three consecutive goals. Cristall got the Bears on the board first, lighting the lamp 6:01 into the frame with his 14th goal of the season. Taking a no-look backhand pass from Brett Leason behind the net, the Capitals’ prospect winger fired a quick shot past an unaware Sergei Murashov.
Andrew Cristall goal
Milano extended the Bears’ lead 4:31 later with his second AHL goal of the season after seeing a centering pass from the goal line bounce off Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivany and in.
Sonny Milano goal
Chesley would score what would end up being the game-winner — his third game-deciding goal of the season — 1:06 after Milano’s tally. As a Bears’ two-on-one disintegrated, Cristall skated the puck out of the corner and then showed off his elite vision, finding Chesley jumping into the play on the right side. The Capitals’ defense prospect then rifled a shot past Murashov.
Chesley’s three game-winners are the most by a Bears rookie defenseman since Cameron Schilling tallied four during the 2012-13 season.
Ryan Chesley
The trio of Bears’ goals came in a span of just five minutes and 37 seconds.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton responded in the third period with goals from Aidan McDonough (2:35) and Rafaël Harvey-Pinard (8:43), but Bogdan Trineyev sealed the Bears’ victory with an empty-net goal — his 12th of the season — at 18:46.
“It was nice to see us get a lead like that, especially on a good team like that,” Bears head coach Derek King said. “But that’s a good hockey team, so you can’t drop your guard, and they pressured us, they tilted the ice, and you can see what they can do, but we weathered the storm, but we’ll take the two points and get out of here and go home.”
Cristall, Milano, and Trineyev each finished the night with a goal and an assist, while Leason had two apples. Ilya Protas had a primary assist on Milano’s second-period goal, extending his team lead in points to 49 (24g, 25a) in 58 games.
The Bears will next play the Hunter Shepard-less Belleville Senators on Saturday and Sunday at home to complete their three-in-three.
