The Maryland Black Bears had been red hot at home, compiling a 9-0-0 record while outscoring its opponents 40-13 heading into its game against East Division rival the New Jersey Titans. And in a high-scoring affair, it was the New Jersey Titans riding a four-goal second period to a 5-3 victory.

The Black Bears got the scoring started in the second period with a shorthanded goal from forward Dimitry Kebreau, who scored using a wrist shot on a breakaway to make it 1-0 Maryland. The second period saw a flurry of goals from the Titans, starting off with a wrist shot goal from defenseman Eric Charpentier that found its way in from the point for a 1-1 tie. New Jersey defenseman Owen Luik gave the Titans a 2-1 lead with a snap-shot goal from the near circle. Maryland responded with another breakaway goal, this time from forward and NAHL leading point scorer Christian Catalano, who moved to his backhand to tie the game at 2-2. However, less than three minutes later Titans’ forward Ben Muthersbaugh put a rebound home to give New Jersey a 3-2 lead. Black Bears’ defenseman Caleb Craven tried to spark his team with a fight against Titans’ forward Anthony Calafiore that got the crowd to their feet. But New Jersey forward Levente Kereszetes was able to get another goal on the powerplay via a redirect made it 4-2.

Maryland got a goal back thanks to a rebound goal from forward Hunter Ramos to make it 4-3. It was a back-and-forth end to the game that eventually saw Titans’ forward Michael Young score a goal with a snap shot off a face-off to make it 5-3, a score that would hold up to be final to hand the Black Bears its first home loss of the season.

The Maryland Black Bears and New Jersey Titans get right back at it on Saturday night with puck drop time scheduled for 7:30 PM ET at Piney Orchard Ice Arena. All games can be streamed on HockeyTV.