Wilkes Barre 6 – Hershey 4
The Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead on goals from Ryan Bayda (4) and Mark Letestu (1) but needed a three goal third period to hold off the Hershey Bears en route to a 6-4 win against the Bears Friday night at the Wachovia Center.
The win was Wilkes Barre’s third straight as goaltender John Curry (29 saves) earned his fourth win of the season.
Last week Wilkes Barre benefited from the return of forward Mark Letestu and this week it was the return of top defenseman Ben Lovejoy.
Lovejoy was strong in his own end finishing the game with a +2 rating and scored the eventual game winner at 3:47 of the third period to put Wilkes Barre up 5-2 in the third.
Hershey answered back following Lovejoy’s tally, scoring two goals in a 1:46 span to close within one goal with about 15 minutes remaining in the third period.
Wilkes Barre held on and Tim Wallace (2) added an empty net goal with 33 seconds remaining in the game as the Penguins prevailed to a 6-4 win.
Winger Luca Caputi continues his strong play, scoring twice to give him four goals in eight games. Caputi earned the games number 1 star.
Post-Game Notes
*Wilkes Barre riding a three game winning streak improved to 4-2 on the season.
*Winger Chris Conner had two assists and leads Wilkes Barre with 8 points in 6 games.
*Center Dustin Jeffrey had an assist and has 6 assists in his past three games. Jeffrey though is looking for his first goal of the season.