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| The Penguins are shut out by the Bears at Giant Center this afternoon. |
At the tail end of three games in three nights for both teams, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins fell behind early and couldn't capitalize on any of their seven power play chances in a 2-0 loss to their biggest rival, the Hershey Bears.
The Penguins power play was held scoreless this weekend, and is 0 for their last 21 attempts following a first period power play goal in Maine against the Portland Pirates on January 18th.
Philip Grubauer pitched in a 27-save shutout for the Bears, who have now won five straight games and tighten up the standings in the East Division with a shutout win over a divisional opponent.
The Penguins return home for a Wednesday night match up with the Syracuse Crunch at the Mohegan Sun Arena at 7:05 p.m. EST. Recap after the jump.
The Penguins got off to a good start, out shooting Hershey 7-3 in the first half of the period, but they were unable to capitalize on 69 seconds of a two-man advantage early in the game.
From there, the Bears gained momentum and took a 1-0 lead on a power play goal of their own. Former-WBS forward Jeff Taffe got the puck down low to Ryan Stoa, who fed a backhand saucer pass across the crease to a wide open Dustin Gazley on the back door. Gazley lifted one over Hartzell for his 5th of the season 11:39 into the first period.
The Bears continued to have the edge in play to start the 2nd period, not allowing a shot from the Penguins in the first six and a half minutes. They extended their lead to 2-0 just inside of five minutes into the middle frame.
After a center ice turnover by the Penguins, Gazley led a 3-on-2 Bears rush into the WBS zone. His initial shot was stopped by Hartzell but Taffe was in position to tap home the rebound, extending the Bears lead to 2-0.
The Penguins started to get some offense going in the second half of the period, but Grubauer was up to the task, stopping all eight 2nd period shots he faced. The Penguins couldn't muster much offensive pressure in the third, and finish their season-high six game road trip with a record of 3-3-0-0.
ROSTER NOTES
Eric Hartzell got the start in net after a great performance last night.
No update on injured forward Zach Sill, who left in the final minute of the 3rd period last night in Norfolk after the skate of Nolan Yonkman appeared to cut Sill's left forearm. Sill didn't play today and is listed out with an upper body injury pending further evaluation.
Anton Zlobin and Zack Torquato returned to the WBS lineup today, replacing Sill and Carter Rowney. The same six defenseman played all weekend, leaving Nick D'Agostino and Harrison Ruopp as healthy scratches on the back end.
Lines
Kuhnhackl - Drazenovic - Thompson
Zolnierczyk - Torquato - Uher
Farnham - Manderson - Kostopoulos
Leblond - Carman - Zlobin
Samuelsson - Despres
Harrington - Mikkelson
Dumoulin - McNeill
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