Bears Maul Penguins...No, Not on Animal Planet

Last night, the Hershey Bears gave rude notice to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (and the rest of the AHL, for that matter) that they are going to be a team to be reckoned with this year. The Bears got a goal from Keith Aucoin 96 seconds into the game and never looked back as Hershey gutted and left on the ice their opponents in an 8-4 win. In the mauling, the Bears...

- Went 5-for-7 on the power play

- Had a hat trick from returning forward Graham Mink

- Had five point nights from Mink (3-2-5) and Aucoin (1-4-5)

- Had multiple point nights from Alexandre Giroux (1-2-3), Chris Bourque (1-2-3), and Andrew Gordon (1-1-2)

- Saw Matthieu Perreault score his first goal in a Hershey sweater

- Abused two Penguin goaltenders (David Brown and Adam Berkhoel) for eight goals on 30 shots

Interesting this should have happened, because earlier in the week, Penguin forward Jonathan Filewich was talking about the new Penguins and what they were in for in joining the club...

"They know what is expected. We don’t lose here. That’s just how it is."

Well, last night might not have qualified as a loss. A pounding? A strafing? A beating? OK, but not a "loss."

Jonathan Bombulie, who is actually a very entertaining beat writer for the Penguins at the Citizens Voice in Wilkes-Barre, commented on the Penguins as a franchise that...

"The Hershey Bears and their nine Calder Cup championships probably aren’t jealous of the Penguins. Neither are the Chicago Wolves and their two titles in the last seven years. No, the Penguins aren’t a model like those who prowl the catwalk at fashion week in Paris or adorn the pages of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. They’re more like the model in the lingerie section of the Sears ad."

Last night, they were like the fertilizer ads at the feed store. And the Bears?...It was only the first of 80 regular season games, but they were giving early indications of just how loaded the Caps are from top to bottom throughout the organization.