Penguins Beat Bears Again, 2-1

The rough stuff continued tonight in Hershey.

In another fun-filled preseason game, the Penguins and Bears played against each other for the second time in as many nights.

The lineups were much different. Hershey had most of their top guns like Keith Aucoin, Graham Mink and Ryan Potulny in the lineup while WBS regulars like Bryan Lerg and Geoff Walker were scratched.

The initial news on the status of Keven Veilleux, injured last night, is not good. It was reported that his knee was too swollen to be evaluated (MRI, X-rays, etc.). I'll be at WBS practice all week and will try to find out what I can on Veilleux.

As for the game, the Bears came out ready to play. Matt Pope put the Bears on the board just 1:31 into the contest. That was the only goal scored through the first 40 minutes, but that's not to say there wasn't any excitement.

Zach Sill and Christian Hanson dropped the gloves in a spirited bout. Sill appeared to be injured and left the game with the trainer but later returned. Devin DiDiomete and Alex Grant were also involved in scrums for the Penguins.

Down 1-0 heading into the third period, Carl Sneep and Ben Street teamed up for a pretty goal just 26 seconds into the final period. With 3:21 left to play, Brian Gibbons made a nice move on Keith Aucoin and roofed a backhander past Dany Sabourin for the game winning goal. It was truly a thing of beauty.

Sure the win doesn't mean much since this is still the preseason, but you have to like the effort from a lot of these guys. Brian Gibbons and Scott Munroe in particular, were the stars of the night for the Penguins.

Gibbons has been a problem all preseason long for opposing teams. He uses his speed to create space and his vision on the ice is incredible.  Munroe stood on his head tonight, stopping 34 of 35 shots. And he stopped shots from a lot of guys that will be regulars for Hershey this season.