LEWISTON – For awhile Wednesday night, the St. Dom’s hockey team might have thought one goal would be enough.

Then the Thornton Academy Trojans proved otherwise.

After Thornton scored to tie the game early in the third period, the Saints had to find the finishing touch that had been missing for much of the night.

The Saints scored when they needed them most, netting three goals in the final 10:27 to beat the Trojans 4-1.

“Last game was a tough game and a big loss,” said St. Dom’s goaltender Nate Brown of a disappointing loss to Brunswick. “We were looking forward to coming back and rebounding with a good win.”

The Saints (1-1) had taken an early lead on the Trojans with a shorthanded Alex Tyburski goal in the first period. St. Dom’s had ample opportunity to build on that lead but couldn’t produce a second tally. For much of the game, the Saints defense and Brown (18 saves) in goal enabled that lone tally to stand.

“We took 25 shots and we had one goal,” said St. Dom’s coach John Pleau. “I told the team that a good team scored on one in 10 shots. A great team scores every one in seven. We had one in 25. We needed to wake up if we’re going to consider ourselves a good team.”

The Saints outshot the Trojans 25-13 through the first two periods but had just one goal to show for it. Thornton goaltender Daniel Laskey only added to the Saints frustration.

“The goaltender for them did an outstanding job,” said Pleau. “We weren’t crashing the net like we should have been. So he was getting good looks at all the shots.”

The Saints urgency on offense increased when the Trojans tied the game on a two-man advantage at 2:58 of the third. A Dom Cloutier shot from the point was knocked down by Ryan Prescott in the slot. He was able to tip it by Brown for the equalizer.

“It bounced off his stick right in front of me,” said Brown. “I had to adjust a little bit. I thought I grabbed it, but it fell off to the left of me. I got a stick on it, but it went into the corner, barely.”

The Saints responded quickly enough. Jeff Lewandowski threw the puck at the net from the left circle. It hit a defenseman and snuck by Laskey with 10:27 left in the game.

St. Dom’s added a power play goal with 5:38 left. Simon Hebert fed Sheldon Roy out front and then Rich Paradis scored on an empty-netter with 1:06 left.

“We woke up,” said Pleau. “We were really lackadaisical and after that goal, it sort of lit a fire. “That’s a quality team. So we had to step it up if we wanted to be at a higher level.”

The first goal came at 5:34 on the penalty kill. Tyburski was aggressive on the forecheck. He stole the puck and snuck out of the corner between two defenders to slide in a low wrister for the 1-0 lead.

In the second period, St. Dom’s outshot Thornton 12-6 but the Trojans had their chances. Brown got some help from the crossbar on a tip in front. Brown then made a couple of nice stops on a backhand in front and a quick shot of a face-off to preserve the lead.

“I thought my defense played really well,” said Brown. “We only allowed (19 shots) and we had (37). They did a really good job. I was seeing the puck very well.”

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