Bears Roar Back to Top Penguins 5-4 in OT

March 1, 2025

The Hershey Bears (32-14-5-0) rallied from 3-0 and 4-3 deficits to triumph over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (29-14-7-1) in a 5-4 overtime win in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,580 on Saturday night at GIANT Center, as the club continued its 2024-25 season, presented by Penn State Health.

Ivan Miroshnichenko and Pierrick Dube each scored twice, with Dube netting the game-tying and game-winning goals. Hershey's record against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton improved to 5-3-0-0.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Miroshnichenko scored his 14th of the season at 15:01 of the second to take over the active team scoring lead and get Hershey on the board. Miroshnichenko then tied the score at 3-3 at 11:38 of the third period. The forward also posted nine shots on goal to match the club's single-game season-high (Mike Vecchione, Jan. 25 at Belleville).
• Valtteri Puustinen led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring with two goals and an assist; his second of the game gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead eight seconds after Miroshnichenko had tied the game.
• Both of Dube's goals came unassisted. The forward tied the score at 4-4 at 13:32 of the third period with Hershey trailing 4-3, and scored the game-winner at 2:08 of the overtime period.
• Defender Alex Alexeyev played his first game for the Bears since Nov. 6, 2022 vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, after being assigned to Hershey earlier in the day on a conditioning loan by the Washington Capitals. Alexeyev earned the primary assist on Vecchione's goal and logged a plus/minus of +4.
• Mike Sgarbossa left the game midway through the first period with an upper-body injury and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.
• Hershey is 8-5 in the overtime period this season, with its eight victories in sudden-death tops in the AHL. The Bears also improved to 21-6-5-0 in games decided by one goal.

SHOTS: HER 36, WBS 16

GOALTENDING: HER - Clay Stevenson, 12-for-16; WBS - Tristan Jarry, 31-for-36

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-3; WBS - 1-for-2

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Todd Nelson on how the team earned a big win:
"Well I thought we played pretty well in the first 40 minutes. The score didn't indicate that, but we only gave up 16 shots tonight - we had 33 or something like that. So I liked the way we were playing. That's a very dangerous team. Even though we gave up 16 shots, they have a lot of skill and they made things happen off the rush, but our guys all stuck with it. I think just getting that second goal kind of sparked us and we started coming in waves and you know, it was our first game of the week, it was their third, so maybe that had something to do with it, but we just kept on coming and found a way and we almost let it slip away on us. We scored to tie it up 3-3, then they come right back 10 seconds later and score. But we found a way to win and I thought the guys played a pretty solid game, but like I said, it was a pretty low-event game for 40 minutes, but then it got pretty exciting in the third period. When they scored a power-play goal and got another two and all of a sudden you're down 3-1 and the building was kind of dead and all of a sudden we scored, the building got alive, and the guys fed off that.

Nelson on the play of Alexander Alexeyev:
"I thought he was very good. He was sticking and pinning in the D Zone. He's been working out a lot, hasn't been playing. He's a big man and I thought he did a great job for us tonight. I was wondering if there was gonna be a bit of rust. There's maybe a couple passes he might want to have back, but other than that, he was really solid for us."

NEXT GAME:

The Bears continue the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when they host the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Sunday, March 2 at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center for Hersheypark Pass Night. All fans in attendance will receive a 2025 Hersheypark ticket, valid for one-day admission through June 30, 2025. Bears players will be also wearing throwback-themed jerseys that will be auctioned off post-game. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.