WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins had a four-goal outburst in the first period and skated to a 7-2 win over the Hershey Bears on Saturday at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
The victory gives Wilkes-Barre/Scranton a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series with Game Three on Wednesday in Hershey.
The Penguins' Colin McDonald scored two goals for the second consecutive night.
The Penguins forward gloved down a failed clearing attempt by Hershey in the first period and quickly threw a shot toward the net that ricocheted off a stick before fluttering past Bears netminder Dany Sabourin.
Zach Sill made the score 2-0 in favor of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with nine minutes left in the first, cashing in on the rebound from Ryan Craig’s backhand shot. A little over a minute later it was Cody Wild crashing the crease to deposit his first postseason goal after Sabourin made a pad save on Jason Williams.
The offense explosion wrapped up with 3:00 until the break as Geoff Walker redirected William’s long wrist shot to the back of the net for a power play goal.
Hershey would push back at the start of the second frame and get on the board at 2:29 when defenseman Patrick McNeill beat a screened Brad Thiessen with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Brad Thiessen made 14 saves to earn his second win of the postseason. Sabourin stopped 20-of-27 for Hershey.
Information used in this story is courtesy of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.
