A buzzer-beater in the final second of regulation dealt the Hershey Bears (7-3-0-0) a 2-1 loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (5-4-0-0) on Friday night at Mohegan Sun Arena.
Hershey took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 6:27 of the first period when Mike Sgarbossa centered the puck along the half-board to Mike Vecchione in the slot, who fired a shot past Joel Blomqvist for his fourth of the season. Chase Priskie earned a secondary assist.
Hunter Shepard kept the Bears in the lead early in the second as a broken play at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton blue line led to a 2-on-0 breakaway for the Penguins, but Vecchione raced back to partially break up Jansen Harkins' shot, forcing it to wobble on net, where Shepard was able to kick it aside.
The Penguins eventually broke through late in the frame as Harkins made his way down low and found Alex Nylander above the hash-marks, and Nylander one-timed a shot that beat Shepard at 19:23 to draw the score level at 1-1.
The game appeared to be headed for overtime in the waning seconds of regulation, but the Penguins stunned the Bears when Marc Johnstone beat Shepard with half a second remaining on the clock with a shot from the right point.
Shots finished 24-20 in favor of the Penguins. Shepard went 22-for-24 in his first loss of the season for Hershey; Blomqvist went 19-for-20 in the victory for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Hershey was 1-for-5 on the power play; the Penguins went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
The Bears return home to host the Bridgeport Islanders at GIANT Center on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m., as they welcome their Atlantic Division opponent to Hershey for the first time this season. Purchase tickets for the game by CLICKING HERE.
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