Hershey forces Game 7

HERSHEY – After he made his second start in two days in Saturday night’s Game 5, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins goaltender Adam Berkhoel needed a few IVs to overcome the fatigue.

And after Hershey Bears goaltender Michal Neuvirth made his third start in three days on Sunday in Game 6, he was so tired after the game he didn’t even want to talk.

If Neuvirth felt a little better, chances are he would have plenty to say about his 30-save effort en route to shutting out the Penguins 3-0 to force a decisive Game 7 on Tuesday.

The loss marked the first time the Penguins were shutout in 124 games, dating back to March 21 of last season when they were blanked by the Albany River Rats, 3-0. Since the Penguins entered the league in 1999, they have been shutout five times in the playoffs and four of those instances occurred via Hershey.

Penguins winger Chris Minard attributed Sunday’s shutout loss to one player – Neuvirth.

The game was the third in three days for both teams, and it was the Bears who had the jump to open the first period.

Andrew Gordon scored with traffic in front at 11:35 of the first period, and Darren Reid and Alexandre Giroux added goals in the second period to put the Penguins in a hole with half the game remaining.

Down by three, the Penguins did manage to get some jump in their legs and some scoring chances on Neuvirth.

But he turned them all away, including saves on Joe Vitale and Tommy Goebel as they crashed the net, a glove save on a Minard wrister and another glove stop on Nick Johnson from point blank range to end the period.

“Tonight I think the biggest thing was we got down a couple goals and couldn’t manage to make the plays we needed to make,” Minard said. “Our execution wasn’t as good and maybe we didn’t have the jump we needed to close the team out.”

Despite the fact that both teams were playing their third game in three days, there was one factor that gave Hershey an advantage – they entered the game down 3-2 in the series and had to win to stay alive.

“They were an urgent, desperate hockey team that had to win the game to go on,” said Penguins head coach Todd Reirden. “Elimination games are always a little more difficult to win. Tonight they were sharper than we were.”

If any of the Penguins should be feeling the exhaustion of the grinding schedule it should be Berkhoel. In the last three games he stopped 102 of the 109 shots Hershey fired on net and faced 40 and 43 shots in the last two nights. Berkhoel’s workload over the last three days averages out to 36 shots per game.

But after Sunday’s loss, Berkhoel didn’t need any IV’s. He also didn’t need any excuses.

“We had the momentum (coming into the game). No excuses not to bring our best game, but they were just a notch above us,” Berkhoel said. “They had their backs against the wall. They had to win tonight.”

And now the Penguins need to do the same thing – win – on Tuesday. And they have to do it on the road, a place where the home team has yet to lose a game in the series.

“It just seems like that’s the way things are falling,” Reirden said. “It’s a tough challenge (playing in Hershey for Game 7) and I look forward to seeing our best game of the year on Tuesday night.”

So does Berkhoel, who plans to use today to rest and recharge his batteries to play his fourth game in seven days on Tuesday.

“(Game 7) is what you play for. Everything’s built up – you win and move on or lose and go home,” Berkhoel said. “It’s the best time of the year. It’s the reason you play.”

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Penguins suffer first shutout in 124 games. Decisive game will be in Hershey on Tuesday.

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