BRUNSWICK — The only fireworks in Monday afternoon’s rematch between Leavitt/Edward Little and Brunswick’s girls’ hockey teams came in the opening three minutes of the contest.

And it was Brunswick setting them off, to the tune of three quick goals that stunned the Red Hornets as the Dragons skated to a 5-3 decision at Bowdoin College’s Watson Arena to sweep the season series.

“We had three tough games back-to-back, and we were hoping to win two out of three,” Brunswick coach Bill Bodwell said. “Greely battled us pretty hard, so it was nice to get these two wins.”

Already outshooting Leavitt/EL 6-1 in the game’s first two minutes, the Dragons rattled off goals at 2:14, 4:48 and 7:16 of the opening frame to set the early tone.

“The last couple of games we’ve come out a bit more slowly,” Bodwell said. “When we played them on Thursday, we were down 2-0 off the top, and then we went down to Greely (a 5-1 loss), so this was nice. It was the best first period we’ve had in a while.”

“We’ve been battling for position in the East,” Brunswick forward Eliza Brooks said. “It’s been really different for us this year, to have these games be this important at this point of the season. Greely was tough for us, but this was big.”

The scoring barrage prompted Red Hornets’ coach Eric Geoffroy to call a timeout and settle down his troops.

“We were sloppy in our own end, and they were beating us to pucks,” Geoffroy said. “(The timeout) stopped the bleeding, and after that we started beating them to pucks finally. It sort of righted the ship a little bit.”

The Leavitt/EL defense awakened after that, and it kept Brunswick off the board for the remainder of the period.

The Red Hornets started getting their legs in the second period. Taylor Landry scored her first of the game 2:46 in to pull her squad within a goal, and Sidney Nadeau added another at 8:54 to cut the Brunswick lead to one.

“There weren’t any different plays or anything like that,” Geoffroy said. “You’ve got to beat them to pucks.”

Brooks, who netted the final two for Brunswick in the first, finished off her hat trick with a goal 50 seconds after Nadeau’s to put the Dragons back on top by a pair.

“That’s our orange line, they’ve been playing really well all season,” Bodwell said. “They’re not very big, but they’re pretty scrappy, and they have a good nose for the net.”

Landry responded quickly for Leavitt/EL, though, netting her second with 1:06 remaining in the second to keep it tight into the final intermission.

The teams battled evenly through the middle part of the third, as well, until Gillian Ford crept in from the blue line and wristed a shot past Leavitt/EL goalie Tori Sanford at 7:14. That seemed to rattle the visitors, who barely threatened again, even with a late-game power play.

The victory helped Brunswick solidify its hold on a top-two position in Eastern Maine, while Leavitt/EL still sits in third, ahead of Lewiston, which is creeping back up the standings with a stretch of victories.