Photo: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

The Hershey Bears beat the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 6-2 on Friday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre. The Penguins would strike first but the Bears would answer with a goal from Brian Pinho for a 1-1 tie at the first intermission. The Bears would explode with four goals in the middle frame. Garrett Pilon, Brian Pinho, Eddie Whittchow and Philippe Maillet would register tallies for a 5-1 Bears lead at the second intermission. The Penguins would score early in the final frame to make it 5-2 but the Bears would hold on and add an empty net goal from Liam O’Brien for the 6-2 final.

The win improves the Bears record to 19-10-2-3 (43 points) on the season.The Bears are currently tied with the Providence Bruins for second place in the Atlantic Division, and just four points behind the Hartford Wolf Pack for first place.

STARTERS
Vitek Vanecek (10-5-1-1, 2.35 GAA, .908 sv%) started between the pipes for the visiting Bears. Dustin Tokarski (6-2-1-1, 1.28 GAA, .951 sv%) got the start in goal for the Penguins. The starting forward lines and defensive pairs for the Bears:

First lineup of the decade ⬇️ #HBH pic.twitter.com/2S9eC1axHL

— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 3, 2020

Scratches: Steve Whitney (upper body injury), Beck Malenstyn (upper-body injury) and Colby Williams (lower body injury, week-to-week) were the injury scratches. Riley Sutter, Lucas Johansen, Connor Hobbs and Kody Clark were the healthy scratches. Christian Djoos was recalled by the Capitals last Friday.

FIRST PERIOD
The Penguins would pot the game’s first tally with a rebound goal from Andrew Agozzino at 6:53 of the first frame. The goal was setup by a pass from the point by Anthony Angello that would rebound directly to Agozzino for the wide-open shot.

The Bears would tie the game with a goal from Brian Pinho (7) at 13:51 of the first period. Pinho would create the turnover and drive for the score just as a Bears penalty kill was expiring.

Nice play by #CapsProspect Brian Pinho, ties the game 1-1. It’s his 7th goal of the season. He’s heating up. pic.twitter.com/uz6ISNJ0ob

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 4, 2020

The first period would end with the game tied 1-1. The Bears led in shots 14-6 for the first 20 minutes. Both teams were 0 for 1 on the power play.

SECOND PERIOD
The Bears would strike for two quick goals at the start of the second period. Garrett Pilon would score 1:04 into the middle frame to make it 2-1. The score was setup by a nice feed from Mike Sgarbossa (22). Joe Snively (6) had the other helper.

The Bears would quickly make it 3-1 with a goal from Eddie Whittchow at 2:42 of the middle frame. The score was setup by a nice spin and feed by Liam O’Brien (9). Brett Leason (7) had the secondary assist.

The Bears would make it 4-1 on Brian Pinho’s (8) second score of the game at 5:27 of the middle frame. Philippe Maillet (8) had the lone assist.

Bears lead 4-1 on Brian Pinho’s second goal of the game. 14:00 left in middle frame. Bears offense is showing signs of coming alive. #CapsProspect pic.twitter.com/bWHkDZGv2d

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 4, 2020

The Bears would add a power play goal from Philippe Maillet at 18:45 of the second period. Matt Moulson (10) and Bobby Nardella (10) had the helpers.

The period would end with the Bears in control, 5-1. Hershey led in shots 12-8 in the middle frame and 26-14 after two periods. Hershey was 1 for 1 and the Penguins 0 for 2 on the power play after two periods.

THIRD PERIOD
The Penguins would make it 5-2 with a goal from Andrew Agozzino just 56 seconds into the final frame.

🚨 GOAL! 🚨 Andrew Agozzino’s second goal of the game, 14th of the season. Same assists as his first goal of the game. WBS trails 5-2.

🍎: Anthony Angello
🍏: Jon Lizotte#WBSPens #HERvsWBS pic.twitter.com/SvWTCApt3J

— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) January 4, 2020

The Bears would tighten up their defense and add an empty net goal from Liam O’brien late in the contest for the 6-2 final.

The Bears are back in action Saturday night when they host the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the first game of a weekend set at Giant Center. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM.

SHAVINGS

• Attendance: 4,927
• Shots on goal were even at 32-32.
• The AHL box score
• The Bears were 0 for 3 and the Penguins 1 for 4 on the power play.
• Brian Pinho had 2g, 1a.
• Liam O’Brien had 1g, 1a.
• Philippe Maillet had 1g, 1a.

SCENES FROM WILKES-BARRE

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