The Maryland Black Bears and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights competed in a nail bitter Friday night at Piney Orchard Ice Arena that saw everything. Big hits, power-play goals, and a game-tying goal in the final seconds. However, it was the Knights who skate away victorious 5-4 off of a Lincoln Hatten OT winner.

After an uneventful first period, Luke Mountain got the scoring started for Maryland in the second period. Black Bears’ defenseman Hampus Rydqvist kept the puck in the zone and made a beautiful spin-o-rama pass to Luke Mountain who, after a couple of chances, knocked it in off the rebound for a 1-0 lead. Beck Moore responded for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with a shorthanded goal, putting the puck top left corner past Maryland goalie Cooper Black for the tie. Hampus Rydqvist put the Black Bears up before the second period came to a close, blasting a slap shot past Knights’ goalie Alex Contey to make it 2-1.

Garrett Szydlowski kept the scoring coming for Maryland, letting a wrist shot goal from the slot on the power-play to make it 3-1. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton scored the next two goals on the power-play to tie it up. Zak Currie finished off a nice passing play and put the puck past a shuffling Cooper Black, followed by a Jordan Strand point shot through a screen for the tie. Liam Haslam put the Knights up late with just over three and a half minutes to go to make it 4-3 to set up a wild finish. After a failed Black Bears power-play, Ethan Heidepreim scored on a rebound with ten seconds left to tie it 4-4. This sent the game to overtime.

Seconds into overtime, Maryland was hit with a too many men on the ice call, giving the Knights a power-play. There, the team’s leading scorer Lincoln Hatten tallied his league-leading eleventh goal of the season on a rebound to end the game 5-4.

The Black Bears will rematch with the Knights Saturday, October 26th at 7:45 PM ET at Piney Orchard Ice Arena where it will be Halloween at the Den! There will be treats in the seats, costume contests, and more! Get your tickets at tickets.marylandblackbears.com.