WASHINGTON -- Entering Wednesday's game with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Hershey Bears were one of four teams in the AHL without a regulation loss yet this season.
A three-point night from 6-foot-6 Czech forward Radim Zohorna led Wilkes-Barre to a 4-2 win to hand the Bears their first regulation loss.
Wilkes-Barre took three minor penalties in the first half of the opening period: Chase Berger got called for hooking 2:15 in, then a Cam Lee slash at 7:33 and a Billy Sweezey trip at 8:27 gave the Bears some extended 5-on-3 power play time, from which the Penguins emerged unscathed.
"Our kill did a great job there," coach J.D. Forrest said of the start to the game. "Max (Lagace) was great in net for us when we needed him. (Assistant coach) Kevin Porter does a lot of work with our PK, and that was evident tonight. They're real comfortable in those situations. We kind of looked at it as, we're on the penalty kill, but it's also an opportunity to start off on the right foot on special teams. We certainly did that. No one is afraid of getting out there and blocking a shot, or doing what needs to be done to move on from those."
After the Bears' Will Graber opened the scoring late in the first period, Zohorna answered 1:22 later to tie the game, cutting through the crease and popping the puck over Ilya Samsonov:
Nick Schilkey's primary assist on the goal gives him an assist in all five games to start the season.
Anthony Angello and Freddy Gaudreau, playing in their second games of the season after starting the year on Pittsburgh's taxi squad, teamed up to give Wilkes-Barre the lead in the second period. Angello put in the rebound from Gaudreau's shot, and both earned their first points of the season:
Bears forward Mike Sgarbossa tied the game two minutes later, but Zohorna quickly responded with his second of the night, a nice passing play followed by a goal that looked much like the first one:
Angello's primary assist gave him a two-point night.
Schilkey scored his first goal of the season in the third period to extend the lead, assisted by Felix Robert and Zohorna, capping off a three-point game for Zohorna.
When the Bears pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker late in the third, Zohorna had a shot at the open net that went wide.
"Oh, I don't know," Zohona laughed when asked about the miss. "Maybe I was a little bit nervous. But it doesn't matter if I score two or three goals, it's just important that we won."
"Even aside from the offense he brought, I thought he was really good defensively, he uses his long reach," Forrest said. "A really nice game from Zoho today."
Zohorna now has five points in five games, an impressive start for his first season in North America.
"It's so much different," Zohorna said of the adjustment to the North American style of play. "But every game is better and better, I feel better and better. ... The first game was very different, I felt like it was a different sport. In Europe we have the big ice, and we have a lot of time to play, but right now I think it's better."
Forrest thought that Zohorna has handled the transition to the North American style well.
"It's really different," Forrest said of the European style of play. "There's a lot more ice out there, there's a little different pace, there's more set breakouts, set forechecks. (The North American style) is get up and go, quick transition, plays happen fast on the small ice. So it's going to take time to adjust, and I think he's done a great job. To his credit, he's asking for video, he's paying attention to his game, he's trying to figure out exactly what works for him here. It's a nice thing to see when he starts to connect the dots there."
It's also an adjustment for Zohorna off the ice too, just living in North America for the first time in his life, but he's taking that well too.
"I like it," Zohorna said of living here. "I like the culture in the USA. The food is a little bit different than in Europe. But this is a nice city. I like the nature around there. I'm happy to be here."
The three-point game also meant that Zohorna had to got to do his first English interview of the season. He handled it well, but it was still funny when he apologized at the end of the interview:
If he keeps playing like this, he'll get a lot more practice at the interview part of the job too.
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Max Lagace started in net for the second time this season, and stopped 26 of 28 shots.
• With Kevin Czuczman back in Wilkes-Barre, he wore an 'A' on his jersey, joining Jon Lizotte and Gaudreau.
• Czuczman led the team in shots with four.
• Forward Kyle Olson didn't play as he served a one-game suspension from an elbowing incident last game. Michael Joly went into the lineup in his place.
• Shane Starrett served as backup goaltender for the first time this season. He missed training camp and did not dress for the first four games of the season as he recovered from COVID.
• Samsonov who is typically the Capitals starting goaltender, started in this game as he works to get his conditioning back up after his battle with COVID zapped his strength.
"It was a good offensive output," Forrest said of his team facing the challenge of an NHL-starting goaltender. "We put pressure on him. He certainly had to make some really nice saves, and the goals we scored, I don't think were easy stops. You can't fault him really on any of those. Our guys responded to the challenge, and that's what we're looking for."
• This game was the third game of the season for the Penguins against Hershey, after losing in overtime in the first game and losing in regulation, 3-1, on Saturday. Forrest was impressed with how the team responded tonight after the last loss.
"There was a lot of positives (from Saturday's loss) that we took from it and tried to ride through this early part of the week," Forrest said. "The response was honestly what we expected from this group. They've been resilient, they always work hard, and they saw some things work for them and we continued to stress that in practice throughout the week. The team did a nice job of just sticking with it. It was great."
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza:
1. Radim Zohorna, Penguins
2. Anthony Angello, Penguins
3. Nick Schilkey, Penguins
THE INJURIES
• Forward Sam Miletic remains day-to-day recovering from mono, but is back to practicing. Forrest said that they'd like Miletic to be closer to 100 percent strength before he gets back into the lineup.
• Defenseman Zach Trotman underwent right knee surgery Jan. 14 to repair a torn meniscus and is off of Pittsburgh's injured reserve and officially on Wilkes-Barre's roster. He's day-to-day.
• Defenseman Jesper Lindgren left the first preseason game after sliding into the boards and underwent successful shoulder surgery this week. He's out indefinitely for the rest of the season.
THE LINEUPS
Forrest’s lines and pairings:
Tim Schaller-Freddy Gaudreau-Anthony Angello
Felix Robert-Radim Zohorna-Nick Schilkey
Michael Joly-Chase Berger-Jan Drozg
Luke Stevens-Zach Nastasiuk-Jonathan Gruden
Jon Lizotte-Billy Sweezey
Cam Lee-Dylan MacPherson
Kevin Czuczman-Will Reilly
And for Spencer Carbery's Bears:
Joe Snively-Mike Sgarbossa-Garrett Pilon
Matt Moulson-Connor McMichael-Damien Riat
Steve Whitney-Riley Sutter-Kody Clark
Axel Johnsson-Fjallby-Shane Gersich-Brett Leason
Rob O'Gara-Paul LaDue
Cameron Schilling-Will Graber
Kale Kessy-Reece Willcox
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will play a home-and-home with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on Friday and Saturday, with the first game being played in Wilkes-Barre.
THE CONTENT
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