The Hershey Bears conclude the middle third of their 2024-25 schedule tonight when they face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Hershey is coming off a down-to-the-wire 5-4 victory over the Penguins at home on Tuesday to level the regular-season series with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at three wins apiece.
Hershey Bears (29-13-5-0) at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (26-12-4-1)
Feb. 15, 2025 | 6:05 p.m. | Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza
Referees: Mike Sullivan (47), Jack Young (24)
Linespersons: Bill Lyons (27), Chandler Yakimowicz (60)
Broadcast Information
Voice of the Bears, Zack Fisch, former Bears captain Garrett Mitchell, and Bears media specialist Jesse Liebman on the call
TELEVISION: Antenna TV (WPMT FOX 43.2, Xfinity Ch. 247 and 1178, Verizon FiOS Ch. 463, Blue Ridge Ephrata Ch. 91, and Blue Ridge Newberry/Duncannon Ch. 88)
RADIO: WFVY-100.1 FM, Fox Sports 1460-AM, SportsRadio 98.9-FM & WOYK 1350-AM, Capitals Radio
WATCH LIVE: AHLTV on FloHockey
LISTEN LIVE: Fox Sports AM-1460 Stream, Caps Radio 24/7
Radio pre-game coverage starts at 5:35 p.m.; television coverage begins at 6 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT:
The Bears hosted the Penguins on Tuesday and came away with a 5-4 win. Andrew Perrott opened the scoring for Hershey at 4:40 of the first period, and Hendrix Lapierre netted his first goal of the campaign at 9:32 to put Hershey ahead for good at 2-1. The Penguins continually attempted to chip away at Hershey's lead. Spencer Smallman's empty-net goal stood up as the game-winner after Mac Hollowell scored for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with Joel Blomqvist pulled. Boris Katchouk appeared to score with less than three seconds remaining, but the goal was overturned due to a high stick after all four officials had conferred. The Penguins faced Lehigh Valley on home ice last night, falling 3-2 in a shootout. Sam Poulin and Tristan Broz had the goals for the Pens in the loss.
PERROTT'S PROMISING PREMIERE:
Defenseman Andrew Perrott made his Hershey debut in Tuesday's win versus Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, and the blueliner made quite the first impression, scoring his first goal as a Bear on his very first shot with the club. Perrott, who signed an AHL deal with Hershey on Feb. 5, became the first Bear to score in his debut after being called up from the ECHL since defender Eddie Wittchow found the back of the net in his first game with Hershey on Nov. 30, 2019 versus Belleville. Perrott also scored in his first AHL game last season, striking for the Rockford IceHogs in his inaugural game of the campaign on Nov. 5, 2023 at Manitoba.
BEAR MARKET:
Ethan Bear turned in another fine offensive performance from the blue line on Tuesday, registering his fifth multi-point game of the season with a goal and an assist. Bears leads all Hershey skaters in scoring versus the Penguins this season, striking for five points (2g, 3a) over five head-to-head matchups. Hershey is 7-0-0-0 this season when Bear finds the net, and 19-1-3-0 when he records at least a point.
ANOTHER CLOSE SHAVE:
Four of Hershey's last five victories have been decided by identical 5-4 scores. Seven times this season Hershey has secured a 5-4 victory, while the Bears have also lost a pair of 5-4 contests. Entering tonight's game, Hershey is tied with Laval for the most wins (19) in games decided by one goal. Last season's squad for Hershey set a club record with 24 victories decided by a goal.
TIME TO SHUT THE DOOR:
Hershey enters tonight looking to snap a streak of surrendering three or more goals in nine consecutive games. While the Bears own a 5-2-2-0 record in that span, they have allowed 40 goals in this stretch, an average of 4.44 goals per game. Coming into tonight's game, Hershey is allowing 3.06 goals per game, a mark that is 17th in the league. Prior to the recent nine-game stretch, the Bears were permitting just 2.16 goals per game, a mark that was first in the AHL in mid-January. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton comes into tonight's game scoring 3.49 goals per game, a mark that is good for fifth in the league.
BEARS BITES:
Mike Vecchione's next assist will mark his 100th career assist with the Bears. Vecchione has eight points (3g, 5a) in his past seven games...From now through the end of March, 13 of Hershey's 17 games are on the road. The Bears are the AHL's best road team with an .800 points percentage, owning a 14-2-4-0 record away from GIANT Center...Hendrix Lapierre's goal in Tuesday's win was his first of the season over a combined 39 games (27 NHL, 12 AHL)... Ethan Bear is ninth in scoring among defensemen with 29 points (7g, 22a)...Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Emil Bemstrom leads all skaters in the season series, posting 10 points (2g, 8a) in six games versus Hershey...Tonight is the third of six head-to-head meetings at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. Both previous games have been blowouts with Hershey winning 6-1 on Dec. 4 and the Penguins upending the Bears 9-0 on Jan. 29. In comparison, all four games at GIANT Center between the two teams this season have been decided by one goal.
ON THIS DATE:
Feb. 15, 1986 - Rookie goaltender Ron Hextall made 32 saves, including three on breakaways, to stonewall the Binghamton Whalers in a 6-0 win in front of 6,255 at Hersheypark Arena. Dave Gans opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 1:21 of the second period for the eventual game-winner and added an assist on Bo Berglund's tally in the third period. The victory earned Hextall his third consecutive home shutout victory after he had earned clean sheets at home the week before against Maine and Rochester the week prior. Hextall's shutout streak on home ice lasted a total of 216:51.
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