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HERSHEY — David Warsofsky knew he was taking a risk.
After a grueling back-and-forth battle in regulation against the Hershey Bears on Sunday, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins defenseman skated the puck into the corner during overtime and placed a shot behind goaltender Vitek Vanecek to win the game in dramatic fashion.
The 6-5 win wrapped up a perfect three-in-three for the Penguins (25-7-3-0) and proved they could comeback from anything, even against a Bears team that gained three leads on the night and forced overtime on a goal with eight seconds left, in the Giant Center no less.
“This is a tough building to come into and play,” head coach Clark Donatelli said. “Never mind a three-in-three. Never mind being down a couple of times. There’s no quit in our room.”
And it all came down to Warsofsky’s goal that occurred less than two minutes into the overtime period when he skated around Hershey’s Chandler Stephenson and placed a bad-angle shot behind Vanecek for the win.
Warsofsky admitted he was aiming the shot behind Vanecek, but there could’ve been consequences.
“In overtime it’s kind of a risky play because if you miss it they’re probably going down on a two-on-one,” he said. “But I was fresh and figured I would take a shot at it.”
The Bears looked poised to dominate the game as they took a 2-0 lead in the opening period. Both goals occurred after the Penguins left players open down low.
Hershey’s Stanislav Galiev struck first while he was left open in front, and Zach Sanford followed with a power-play tally to close out the period.
The Penguins had an opportunity to chip away when Hershey’s Tyler Lewington was given a double minor for high-sticking at the start of the second period, but they were unable to generate many chances.
While the power play faltered, the Penguins did pretty well at even strength.
Tim Erixon cut Hershey’s lead to 2-1 when he blasted a shot from the point that sailed through traffic.
Five minutes later, Erixon sparked a second goal with another blast from the point that hit a Hershey player in front. Tom Kostopoulos scooped up the loose puck and chipped it into the net for a 2-2 tie.
Hershey regained the lead in the third period to make it 3-2, but the Penguins tied it a second time when Derrick Pouliot threw a move that froze Hershey’s Colby Williams and dished a backhand into the net to make it 3-3.
“A great individual effort and a great play by Pouliot,” Donatelli said.
Hershey regained the lead again on a power play goal, but Warsofsky answered with a slapshot from inside the blueline for a man advantage tally to make it 4-4.
The Penguins got a second power-play goal when Pouliot, who had three points on the night, sent a pass to Garrett Wilson alone in front. Wilson took his time to lift a backhander over Vanecek for the Penguins first lead, 5-4.
“Pouliot made a great pass to me. I knew I had a little bit of time and was lucky enough to put it over his glove,” Wilson said.
But Hershey wasn’t done. Sanford scored again with eight seconds left to force overtime, tied 5-5 after both teams combined for six goals in the period.
“We knew we could battle back. We have a pretty resilient group here,” Warsofsky said.
And the Penguins did just that as Warsofsky’s goal sealed the win and improved the Penguins to 5-0 this season when playing the last game of a three-in-three.
“We’re never out of it,” Donatelli said. “This team has the confidence and resiliency to come back. We don’t get rattled.”
