Bears get revenge on the baby Pens after a four goal second period.

The Hershey Bears entered the first game of the new decade, coming off of ten wins in eleven games through the month of December, with their only blemish to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. The Bears entered Friday nights game looking to start the new year with swagger, as they took on their rivals.

The first period saw both teams net one goal each. The Penguins, Andrew Agozzino struck first to start the game off with a 1-0 lead. After some great stick work at the Hershey blueline while on the penalty kill, Brian Pinho would chip and chase the puck all the way down the ice to score just as the Bears penalty expired, knotting the game up at a goal each. The first ended with the Bears and Pens tied 1-1.

The second period is where the Bears would start to flex their offensive muscle, exploding four goals throughout the period. Garrett Pilon took the lead early in the period to give the Bears their first lead of the game. Eddie Wittchow kept the ball rolling as he scored less than two minutes after Pilon. Brian Pinho got his second goal of the night to put Hershey up 4-1. Philippe Maillet closed out the scoring for the second period, getting one in the net with a little over a minute left. Something the Chocolate and White lacked through the first quarter of the season was scoring. Safe to say that they have flipped the script since the start of December, scoring three or more goals in six out of their last twelve games. The second ended with the Bears leading 5-1.

Into the third the Penguins would look for a strong push-back, and after Agozzino scored again just 56 seconds in, it looked like they would try and mount a comeback. Wilkes-Barre also dominated the time of possession through the first twelve or so minutes of the third, but the one constant for Hershey, was strong goaltending from Vitek Vanecek, stopping 17 of 18 shots in the third. Liam O’Brien would later ice the game with an empty netter to give the Bears their first victory of the new decade, with a final score of 6-2.

The Chocolate and White are in action next tomorrow night at Giant Center, as they continue their three games in three nights against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.