Wilkes-Barre/Scranton/Pittsburgh Penguins forward Rutger McGroarty (2) skates with the puck against the Dallas Stars in a game at PPG Paints Arena. (Source: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images)The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins beat the Hershey Bears 4-3 in OT to take a 2-1 lead in the Atlantic Division Semifinals.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton would limit Hershey to only two shots while putting up four of their own in the first 8:28 minutes of the opening period. Two of the Penz' shots would result in goals by Phil Kemp and Mikhail Ilyin to go up 2-0 early in the game. But then, Bears forward Ivan Mioshnichenko would take advantage of a 3-on-2 situation and score at the 9:49 mark to cut the deficit in half. After that Hershey would take control for the rest of the period, going on an 11-3 shooting run including five shots on an unsuccessful power play. Still, forward Bogdan Trineyev would find the back of the Penguins' net at the 18:09 mark, leaving the score at 2-2 by first intermission.
37 seconds into the second frame, Hershey forward Brett Leason would take advantage of a loose puck in the slot and score the go-ahead goal for the Bears. While Wilkes-Barre/Scranton managed to outshoot Hershey 10-7 in the period, six of those 10 shots came in an unsuccessful Penz power play.
The Penguins fought tooth and nail in the third period for a comeback and after pulling goalie Sergei Murashov for an extra attacker, found the equalizer through the stick of Avery Hayes, setting up overtime.
The Penguins completed the comeback as the puck took a deflection off forward Rutger McGroarty's via a Sebastian Aho pass into the Hershey net, taking the 2-1 series lead in the Atlantic Division Semifinals.
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie and AHL All-Star Murashov made 26 saves off 29 shots for a save percentage of 0.897.
Hershey goalie Clay Stevenson made 23 saves off 27 shots for a save percentage of 0.852.