Saturday night at the GIANT Center felt special from the start, opening with a ceremony honoring veteran defenseman Aaron Ness on his 800th career American Hockey League game—a huge milestone for the Bears organization. The emotional atmosphere carried into the first period when Brett Leason punched home a goal for a quick 1-0 Hershey lead. But the visiting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins quickly reminded everyone why they sit near the top of the league. After falling behind, the Penguins’ offense completely shifted gears, pouring on four unanswered goals to take the 4-1 victory. The attack was spearheaded by Valtteri Puustinen, who buried two crucial goals to ignite the comeback, while goaltender Joel Blomqvist was a brick wall, stuffing 27 of 28 shots to hold the line and ensure the Penguins walked away with a hard-earned win over their tough rival.
Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins Lineup:
Poulin - Heinen - Tomasino
McDonough - Broz - Hayes
Harvey-Pinard - Klassen - Puustinen
Ansons - Calvert
Pickering - St. Ivany
Alexeyev - Brunicke
Aho - Pietila
Kemp
Blomqvist
Murashov
Hershey Bears Lineup:
Miroshnichenko - Protas - Trineyev
Cristall - Rybinski - Leason
Bitten - Mateiko - Clarke
Smith - Cruikshank - Nachbaur
Ness - McDonald
Schueneman - Chesley
Gucciardi - Belpedio
Bjorklund
Gibson
Brett Leason opened the scoring, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead at 8:28 of the first period for his second goal of the season. He fired from the right side near the boards through traffic that deflected behind Joel Blomqvist.
Late in the second period, with 2:34 on the clock, Valtteri Puustinen tied it up 1-1 when he swatted in a rebound after Jack St. Ivany made a pass to Phil Tomasino, who fired, and Puustinen put it in past Garin Bjorklund.
Just 58 seconds into the third, Puustinen struck again, picking up his second goal of the night and putting the Penguins in front 2-1 after taking a pass from Tomasino. His snapshot had been denied by Bjorklund originally; however, the puck slipped out of his equipment, leaked down his leg, and into the net. Gabe Klassen extended it to 3-1 not long after Puustinen's tally when he drove towards the net, stuck between a few Bears players, and Sam Poulin had the puck, skating nearby to feed Klassen, who snapped a release through Bjorklund's five-hole at 17:50. Taking a pass from Tristan Broz as they drove through the neutral zone and into Hershey's end, Aidan McDonough snuck one through from the left circle on a power play midway through the third for the 4-1 final.
Notes:
- Prior to the Bears opening the scoring in the first period, Joel Blomqvist made several breakaway or odd-man rush saves. One of his saves was on Andrew Cristall, who went to attempt to score on a breakaway only to be denied by an outstretched pad.
- Joel Blomqvist made a total of 27 saves for Hershey.
- Playing his 800th AHL career game, Aaron Ness passed former Bear Frank Mathers for sole possession for the 16th-most games among defensemen in AHL history. In 448 of those games, Ness appeared with the Bears over the course of two stints from 2015-19 and 2022-present.
- On the power play, Hershey - 0-for-2; WBS - 1-for-2.
- Both Phil Tomasino and Jack St. Ivany extended their point streaks to five games after they assisted on Valtteri Puustinen's first goal of the night. Tomasino: nine points; one goal and eight assists. St. Ivany: five points; one goal and four assists.
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