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HERSHEY — Every puck that Casey DeSmith touched stayed out of the net. And just about every puck that Daniel Sprong shot went in.
The two rookies teamed up to lead the Penguins over the Hershey Bears, 4-0, in Wednesday’s Game 1 of the Atlantic Division Final.
Sprong scored twice – his second two-goal game of the postseason, and Casey DeSmith stopped all 33 shots he faced for his first AHL shutout. The win, which was built with goals that came early in both the first and second periods, put to rest any doubts that the Penguins may be rusty after a 10-day wait between series.
“We wanted to come out and have a good first 10 minutes,” head coach Clark Donatelli said. “We haven’t played in 10 days and they were coming off a tough series, so we wanted to match the pace. We matched the intensity pretty good.”
The Penguins built their lead with a pair of quick-strike goals to start the first and second periods.
Sprong scored 45 seconds into the game when Dustin Jeffrey feathered a pass through the neutral zone. Sprong split the Hershey defense and roofed a shot over Justin Peters for a 1-0 lead.
It took the Penguins only 14 seconds in the second period to go up 2-0 when Carter Rowney deflected a Ryan Parent point shot.
Sprong said the early goals frustrated the Bears.
“You get negative thoughts if you’re the other team,” he said. “We knew they were tired from (the Portland) series and we had to come out strong and that’s what we did.”
After two periods, the Penguins were outshooting the Bears 27-18 and the defense was playing solidly as well.
While the Penguins backchecking limited the Bears attack, DeSmith came up big on several occasions to stymie the Hershey offense and prevent the momentum from swinging the other way.
In the first period, DeSmith stuffed Zach Sill who was alone in front, and in the second period he stretched to get the tip of his skate on Jakub Vrana’s shot during a Hershey two-on-one rush.
DeSmith said the Penguins’ first period set the tone for the rest of the night.
“That first period was unbelievable,” he said. “The guys came out and ran them out of the barn.”
Sprong made it 3-0 during a third period power play when he finished off a passing sequence from Jake Guentzel and Tim Erixon that shifted the Hershey penalty killers, clearing the way for Sprong’s shot.
DeSmith continued to come up big for the Penguins, highlighted by a stop on a Nathan Walker penalty shot with 10 minutes left. Later in the period, DeSmith stoned Sean Collins in front and denied him again on the rebound as Hershey tried to sustain pressure in the offensive zone.
“In a game like this – relatively low-scoring, any big save is going to shift momentum back to your side,” DeSmith said.
After Hershey pulled Peters with four minutes left during a power play, Tom Kostopoulos put the game out of reach when he sent a puck into the empty net to make it 4-0.
DeSmith is now 4-0 in the postseason and continues to gain confidence with every win. He now has his first postseason shutout to build on as well.
“You can’t ask for a better time. It was a really special place to do it,” DeSmith said. “This is a fun place to play, and Game 1 in a series is as good a time as any (to get a shutout).”
NOTES
– F Tom Sestito and D Steve Oleksy were recalled to Pittsburgh earlier on Wednesday. F Adam Krause and D Harrison Ruopp stepped into the lineup.
