The Twin City Thunder’s National Collegiate Development Conference team started out strong, but a hiccup in the second period propelled the P.A.L. Junior Islanders to a 4-2 victory at the USPHL Winter Showcase in Marlborough, Massachusetts, on Saturday.

Ryan Willett had two goals to pace the Islanders.

“He works hard, he has a decent skill set,” Thunder coach Doug Friedman said. “They got a good team. We got our eyes on them and we will see them a bunch more throughout the rest of the season.”

Levente Keresztes put the Thunder up 1-0 in the final minute of the first period with a goal was set up by Jeromey Rancourt and Drew Gardner.

The Islanders answered with two goals in a 44-second span. Willett notched his first goal at the 8:37 mark, and then assisted on Devin Kasperek’s shorthanded goal at the 9:21 mark.

“I think the big difference for us is we didn’t execute, we were rusty in a lot of areas, it’s our first game back from break,” Friedman said. “We didn’t play to the level of play we needed to play.”

With under seven minutes remaining in the third period, Bryan Vandelinder scored on the man advantage to stretch the Islanders lead to 3-1.

The Thunder cut into the deficit with a power play tally from John Kondub with a little more than four minutes remaining the game. Nicolas Poirier set the goal up.

Twin City was 1-for-6 on the man advantage, while the Islanders were 1-for-4.

Willett added an empty net goal with 21 seconds remaining.

Islanders goalie Anthony Aureliano made 26 saves in the win, while Alexander Kozic stopped 23 shots for the Thunder.

The Thunder are back at it again Sunday morning at 9:40 a.m. against the Utica Jr. Comets.

Earlier Saturday, the Thunder brought back goalie Jaxon Friedman for the second half of the season. He started the year in the North American Hockey league, first the Austin Bruins before moving on to play for the Minnesota Magicians, who released him last week.

Friedman, coach Doug Friedman’s son, played for the Thunder’s Premier League team last season. He was brought back in part because the Thunder traded  goalie Artur Ogandzhanyan (6-7-1, 2.83 goals-against-average and a .923 save percentage) to the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs.

USPHL Premier League

Twin City 8, Columbus 2

The Twin City Thunder had eight different goal scorers in their win over the Columbus Mavericks on Saturday at the USPHL Winter Showcase in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

Tomas Brezina led the way with a goal and two assists, while Matt Poirier, Igor Shevchenko and Stavros Rigas contributed a goal and two assists apiece. Adam Stepanek, Italo Milbergs, Raphael Lajeunesse and Noa Jannson also scored goals.

Jared Matley and Keegan Hoover tallied the Columbus goals.

Thunder goalie Esa Maki made 30 saves in the victory, while Jonathan Szekeres stopped 23 shots in the loss.

The Thunder wrap up their games at the showcase Sunday at 5:50 p.m. against the Tampa Bay Juniors.