There was no deja vu Saturday night for the Maine Nordiques.
In their home opener against the Johnstown Tomahawks, the Nordiques let a three-goal lead slip away in a 5-4 defeat.
On Saturday night, the Kenai River Brown Bears started chipping away at the Nordiques three-goal lead, and got within one, but the Nordiques held on for a 6-4 victory to earn a weekend sweep.
“Just like I told the boys, going through some of those early season failures allowed us to grow and learn and develop as a team,” Nordiques coach Nolan Howe said. “We showcased that resolve late in the game today to close out the victory and get us our first sweep in franchise history.”
Cannon Green paced the Nordiques with two goals.
Green opened the scoring nearly 12 minutes into the contest to put the Nordiques up 1-0.
“It wasn’t just today, if you go back to last night, (Jacob) Crespo’s goal was all created by Cannon driving that net,” Howe said. “His goals today were based off the same concept: he’s willing to put in the dirty work and get to the dirty areas where he can get rewarded. He does a great job creating time and space for his teammates and shows great toughness to get himself in front of the net.”
Logan Ritchie tied the game for Kenai with about three-and-half minutes left in the opening period.
The Nordiques took a two-goal lead into the first intermission when Manny Sanchez and Noah Kane scored nine seconds apart.
The Brown Bears picked up the lone goal in the middle frame as Robert McCollum found the back of the net.
Maine potted two more quick goals as Green notched his second of the game exactly at the five-minute mark, and Jack Strauss scored 28 seconds later.
Down 5-2, Kenai River mounted a comeback. Cody Moline potted his first goal of the year and had one of the assists on Ryan Reid’s goal as the Nordiques lead was cut down to 5-4.
Maine’s Vincent DeSanctis ended the comeback bid with his first goal of the year into the empty net with 28 seconds remaining.
Connor Androlewicz made 25 saves for the Nordiques in the win, while Landon Pavlisin also stopped 25 shots for the Brown Bears.
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