PORTLAND – University of Maine men’s hockey coach Tim Whitehead shook up his lineup in Friday night’s exhibition game against the United States National Team Development Program’s Under-18s.

He wanted to try to create some offensive productivity and balance, improve his dreadful power play and get a scrutinizing look at some seldom-used players.

He liked a lot of what he saw as his Black Bears, limited to just five goals in their previous three games, posted an 8-4 triumph before 4,614 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

“We got a lot out of it. We were disciplined. We did well on the power play and we got to the net front a lot better than we have been,” said Whitehead who received goals from eight players with three of them coming off rebounds and another coming on a deflection.

“We’ve worked hard on getting to the net,” said Maine senior center Ben Murphy, one of the goal scorers. “Obviously, we have to score more goals. They were a good team. We knew it was going to be a good challenge.”

Maine gave the highly skilled USA Under-18s just three power-play opportunities while earning eight. Maine, which had just two power-play goals in its previous 40 attempts, went 2-for-8 with the man advantage.

Second-period goals by Jon Jankus (power play), Ben Murphy, Rob Bellamy and John Ronan (PP) offset a pair by Team USA’s Nathan Gerbe and Jack Skille and the Bears broke the game open in the third period as Brent Shepheard, Derek Damon and Keenan Hopson expanded the lead to 8-3.

Dynamic center Phil Kessel, whose first-period shorthanded goal had answered a game-opening goal by Maine’s Josh Soares, capped the scoring with his second of the game and 18th of the season.

Kessel played in the World Junior Championships in North Dakota and was Team USA’s leading goal scorer.

“Maine has a good team. They’re a top-15 team,” said Kessel whose team visits Boston University’s new Agganis Arena on Saturday night.

“Maine got a lot of point shots and scored some rebound goals off them,” Kessel added,

Jankus and Ronan scored on the power play.

“We’ve worked a lot on the power play, trying to find the right mix,” said Jankus.

Jankus and Murphy scored 22 seconds apart in the second period to give Maine a lead it would never relinquish.

Jankus and Greg Moore worked a nifty give-and-go with diagonal passes and Jankus one-timed a slapper from the left point that sailed over the blocker of Billy Blase, who had lost his stick.

“We knew one of their guys had lost his stick and they were running around out there. It’s going to be tough for a goalie to stop a shot without his stick and with traffic in front,” said Jankus.

Murphy converted a drop pass from Billy Ryan, who forced the Team USA defensemen to fade thus creating an open lane for Murphy.

“Billy did all the work. He took two guys with him. He made it easy for me,” said Murphy who waited patiently before snapping a wrister over Blase’s blocker.

“I made a little fake and some space opened up,” said Murphy.

Gerbe scored at the 5:12 mark on the power play as he fought his way to the front of the net and tapped a loose puck behind Maine back-up goalie Matt Lundin.

But Bellamy answered 40 seconds later by camping out in front of the net and getting the shaft of his stick on Steve Mullin’s point shot and deflecting it over Blase’s glove.

Ronan scored 2:13 later when Tim Maxwell’s point shot deflected over to him parked to Blase’s right. Blase was tangled up with traffic in front and Ronan had a half-empty net.

The electrifying Skille got one back when he swept around Mullin, cut in on Lundin and tucked the puck between the goalie’s pads.

Shepheard made it 6-3 early in the third period by wristing a rebound over Blase’s blocker and Damon pounced on a loose puck in the middle of the slot and also converted with a rising wrister to the blocker side.

The Bears outshot Team USA 36-22.

BLACK BEARS 8, USA U-18s 4

USA Under-18s 1 2 1 – 4

Maine 1 4 3 – 8

First period – 1. Maine, Soares (Ramsey, Hopson), 1:31; 2. USA, Kessel (unassisted), 10:15 (pp). Penalties: USA, Vlassopolus, holding, 3:00; USA, Bailey, slashing, 9:48; USA, Johnson, cross-checking, 11:50

Second period – 3. Maine, Jankus (Moore, Leveille), 1:35 (pp); 4. Maine, Murphy (Ryan, Maxwell), 1:57; 5. USA, Gerbe (Stoa, Skille), 5:12 (pp); 6. Maine, Bellamy (Mullin, Ryan), 5:52; 7. Maine, Ronan (Maxwell, Hamilton), 8:05 (pp); 8. USA, Skille (unassisted), 11:43. Penalties: USA, Skille, boarding, :17; Maine, Barnes, slashing, 4:18; USA, Bailey, holding, 7:37; USA, Morin, interference, 13:15; USA, Gentile, interference, 17:32

Third period – 9. Maine, Shepheard (Jankus, Moore), 3:10; 10. Maine, Damon (Soares), 5:00; 11. Maine, Hopson (Leveille, Moore), 10:42; 12. USA, Kessel (Stoa, Macvoy), 14:08; Penalties: Maine, Ramsey, boarding, 6:10; USA, Mercier, interference, 8:39; Maine, Soares, hooking, 14:12

Shots on goal: USA 5-10-7-22; Maine 12-13-11-36

Goaltenders: USA, Blase (36 shots-28 saves); Maine, Ma. Lundin (22-18)

Power-play Opportunities: USA 1 of 3; Maine 2 of 8

High-percentage scoring chances: USA 4-8-5-17; Maine 11-9-8-28

Attendance: 4,614