Bears Top Wolves, 5-0

March 16, 2025

The Hershey Bears (36-15-5-1) turned in one of their most effective performances of the campaign as they blanked the Chicago Wolves (30-24-3-0) by a 5-0 score on Saturday night at Allstate Arena, as the club continued its 2024-25 season, presented by Penn State Health.

Henrik Rybinski (2g, 1a) and Bogdan Trineyev (1g, 2a) led the way with three-point nights, with Rybinski capping the scoring in the waning moments of the third period with a highlight-worthy through-the-legs goal, and Hunter Shepard made 21 saves for his third shutout of the season.

Hershey improved to 2-0-1-0 in the regular-season series against Chicago with the win, and 3-0-0-1 during its franchise-record 10-game road trip. The victory also reduced the club's Magic Number towards clinching a berth in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs to two points.

BOX SCORE

NOTABLES:

• Henrik Rybinski broke a 20-game goal-scoring drought with his seventh of the season at 16:38 of the first period. Rybinski then assisted on Bogdan Trineyev's second-period goal, and finally scored his second of the night at 18:47 of the third period by bringing his stick through his legs and shooting past Ruslan Khazheyev. Rybinski's three-point night matched his previous career-best, and his two-goal performance was the first multi-goal game of his pro career.
• Bogdan Trineyev enjoyed the first multi-assist and three-point game of his career, assisting on both of Rybinski's goals and netting his 11th of the season at 10:03 of the second period to give Hershey a 4-0 lead.
• Chase Priskie collected a pair of assists for his third multi-point game in his last four contests (1g, 6a) and his sixth multi-point outing overall for the season.
• Hunter Shepard earned his 21st victory of the season (tied for the league lead) and his third shutout of the campaign, giving him his 11th career AHL shutout with the Bears, tying him for seventh in franchise history with Pheonix Copley, Vitek Vanecek, and Philipp Grubauer.
• Alex Limoges exited the game midway through the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return.

SHOTS: HER 26, CHI 21

GOALTENDING: HER - Hunter Shepard, 21-for-21; CHI - Dustin Tokarski [L], 10-for-14 and Ruslan Khazheyev, 11-for-12

POWER PLAY: HER - 0-for-0; CHI - 0-for-4

THEY SAID IT:

Bears head coach Todd Nelson on how Hershey came away with the win tonight:
"We played a pretty strong game tonight, but [Hunter Shepard] really held us in the game early. Chicago had about four or five Grade-A chances throughout the first period. And he hung in there tight and all of a sudden we got some goal support. And then by the start of the third period we were up 4-0, they were pushing, we're just let, letting the clock run out, basically. But it was a good team effort; I thought Rybinski and Trineyev played an unbelievable game tonight, [Garrett Roe] was on that line and they all played particularly well, but they got rewarded tonight with their good play. But we have to understand that Chicago will be snarly tomorrow. They're a proud group over there and they have good team speed and we've got to make sure we're ready to skate with them tomorrow."

Nelson elaborating further on the play of Rybinski:
"That was the result of him just playing his game. He had energy tonight. He was tracking the puck hard, creating turnovers. He and Bogdan have chemistry and hooked up together tonight for multi-point nights. So it was just a good effort on that."

Nelson on the team potentially making lineup adjustments on Sunday following Alex Limoges' exit from the game:
"Well, we had intended to put some fresh legs in anyways, so we'll talk to the medical staff here and most likely I'd anticipate there'll be a couple of changes tomorrow, just to get some fresh bodies in there."

Henrik Rybinski on his highlight-reel goal:
"Bogey made a great play to me. I was all alone and it just felt right in the moment so I just went after it. My roommate Ryan Hofer, he did it the other day [with ECHL South Carolina], so maybe that was in the back of my head and so I was like, 'I'll give it a go.'"

Rybinski on the team's defensive play in front of Hunter Shepard:
"I mean they had a lot of Grade-A [scoring chances], and Shep was unreal tonight. We just tried to stay in shot lanes, try to go stick-on-puck. But Shep was really good. He made a lot of big saves for us and the score could have been a lot different than obviously what happened."

NEXT GAME:

The Bears continue the 2024-25 regular season, presented by Penn State Health, when they face the Chicago Wolves on Sunday, March 16, at 4 p.m. (ET) at Allstate Arena. Hershey returns home to host the Utica Comets on Sunday, March 30, at 5 p.m. at GIANT Center for Hall of Fame Night and Toyota Postcard Night. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.