SUTTER HELPS BEARS TOP PENGUINS, 2-1
Hershey prevails over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Thanksgiving Eve game
Riley Sutter broke a 1-1 tie in the second period and enjoyed a two-point night to give the Hershey Bears (13-4-0-0) a 2-1 Thanksgiving Eve home win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (8-6-2-0) on Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 9,259 at GIANT Center. Hershey improved to 3-2-0-0 in the season series with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with the victory.
The game marked the 56th time the Bears had hosted a game on Thanksgiving Eve, and their first since the 2021-22 season. Hershey is now a lifetime 29-20-4-2-1 in Thanksgiving Eve home games; the Bears are 3-1-0-0 in Thanksgiving Eve home contests against the Penguins.
Dylan McIlrath, playing in his first game back with the Bears following his loan by the Washington Capitals, opened the scoring with a shot from the blue line that floated past Joel Blomqvist at 2:46 of the first period. Sutter and Matt Strome earned assists on the goal by Hershey’s captain, his first of the season. For both Sutter and Strome, their assists mutually extended their point streaks to an AHL career-high three games.
Rem Pitlick scored off the rush with a shot from the right circle at 10:37, beating Hunter Shepard to the glove side.
Hershey made it 2-1 early in the second period, as Riley Sutter redirected a behind-the-back pass by Ivan Miroshnichenko from beneath the goal line over the arm of Blomqvist at 2:52, with Hardy Häman Aktell collecting a secondary helper. Sutter’s tally marked his second consecutive game with a goal, the first time in his career he had scored in back-to-back contests.
A potential power-play insurance marker by Mike Sgarbossa was negated at 10:42 of the third period after the officials ruled no goal and a subsequent video review could not produce enough evidence for the officials that the puck had crossed the goal line before the net had been dislodged from its moorings.
Shots finished 32-23 in favor of the Bears. Shepard went 22-for-23 in securing his seventh victory of the season; Blomqvist went 30-for-32 in the defeat for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hershey was 0-for-3 on the power play; the Penguins went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.
The Bears reach the quarter-pole park of the 2022-23 season, presented by Penn State Health, when they welcome the Iowa Wild to GIANT Center Hershey for the first time in team history on Saturday, Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. for College Night – college and university students can show their school spirit and attend using discounted ticket offer by using a valid college/university email address. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.
