On the night an old linemate came to town as an opposing player, Keith Aucoin showed he hadn't missed a beat.

The Hershey Bears' 31-year-old center, the American Hockey League's second-leading scorer last season, had three goals and added an assist to lead the Bears to a 6-2 win over the Rochester Americans Saturday night in front of 8,347 fans in Giant Center.

On the ice for the Amerks, at least for two shifts, was Graham Mink, Aucoin's right-winger last season. Mink parlayed the Bears Calder Cup championship season into a free-agent contract with the NHL's Florida Panthers, but he's been in Rochester all season long.

Mink was looking forward to the game, but he left halfway through the first period and didn't return. He said later he suffered a slight pulled muscle in his back.

"Just tweaked it. Hopefully, it'll get better quickly," Mink said.

"I told him before the game I was going to goad him into a retaliation penalty," Aucoin joked afterward. "I didn't get to do that."

Mink missed what he later called, "The Keith Aucoin Show."

Aucoin assisted on the Bears' first goal, then scored the next two. He added a third with 9:37 left in the game.

The six goals came one night after the Bears were shut out in Albany, 3-0.

"We were disappointed with our effort [Friday] night," Aucoin said. "They are one of the best teams in the league and we wanted to make a statement."

Rochester came in with the best winning percentage in the AHL (.750) but dropped its second straight game. The Americans, still first in the AHL North, are 19-7-1-0 (39 points).

Hershey (18-8-0-2, 38 points) remains three points ahead of second-place Albany in the AHL East.

The Amerks, decimated by callups, are a shell of the team they were a few weeks ago. Six players are on recall to the parent Florida Panthers, including Michal Repik and Jeff Taffe, 5-6 on the team in scoring.

Mike York, No. 4 in scoring, missed his second straight game on personal leave. Then Mink, whose 10 goals and 10 assists are second on the team, left after a couple shifts.

Hershey took advantage, however, with strong games from Aucoin, Alexandre Giroux (2 assists), Andrew Gordon, Jay Beagle, Boyd Kane (1 goal each), and defensemen John Carlson and Bryan Helmer (2 assists each).

"Motivated clearly by [Friday] night's loss," said Bears coach Mark French. "Keith Aucoin, I talked to that line about turnovers.

"There are cheaters and schemers. When you cheat things seem to come back and hurt you. When you're schemers, and when it works, you can let them [get] away with certain things. You have to give them some latitude. But when it doesn't work, you have to get on them.

"It didn't work [Friday] night. Obviously, Keith was the best player on the ice tonight."

Rochester scored on its first shot, Andrew Sweetland converting a pretty feed from Jamie Johnson 1:20 into the game.

The Bears converted on their first power play to tie it at 8:02, Andrew Gordon deflecting in Carlson's shot from the point.

Aucoin then scored a pair of goals back-to-back, at 10:43 and 13:27, to give the Bears a 3-1 lead.

About three minutes later, at 16:29, Beagle deflected in Helmer's shot from the right point, and the Bears had a 4-1 lead after one period.

Rochester starting goalie Alexander Salak was pulled at that point. Salak, whose 15 goalie wins led the American Hockey League, gave up four goals on 12 shots.

Chris Beckford-Tseu replaced Salak, and on the first shot he saw in the second period, Kane beat him from a sharp angle for a 5-1 lead.

Sweetland got his second goal of the game, at 7:46 of the second period, to cut Hershey's lead to 5-2.

Aucoin took a long pass from Helmer and scored on a breakaway to complete his hat trick halfway through the final period.

"He's a great player, an elite-level player," Mink said of Aucoin. "When he's on, there's nobody better."

Hershey and Rochester play twice next weekend, Friday in Rochester and Saturday in Giant Center.

"We know they're going to be a lot better on Friday," Aucoin said. "[But] it was a good win tonight."

Notes: Rochester's league-leading power play went 0-for-5. ... Hershey leads the league in penalty killing, now at 93.3 percent (111-for-119). ... The Bears lead the AHL in scoring with 103 goals. ... Bears rookie goalie Braden Holtby made 34 saves to get his fifth win.