A three-goal outburst in the second period helped lift the Maine Nordiques to a 5-2 victory over the Northeast Generals on Saturday night in front of 1,527 fans at Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
“In the first period, I thought both teams were feeling each other out and realized, hey its not going to be the track meet the night before,” Nordiques coach Nolan Howe said. “We got the first goal and they responded quickly. For us to come in, a big (second period) getting those three goals and several of our goals were scored by defenseman tonight, which is great to see them involved offensively.”
Four of the five goals the Nordiques scored were from the blue line.
Casper Soderling gave the Nordiques (20-27-2, 42 points) a 2-1 lead early in the middle frame on the power play. The Nordiques were 1-for-4 on the man-advantage, the Generals (18-25-2, 38 points) were scoreless in three chances.
The Nordiques struck twice in a 90-second stretch as Trent Grimshaw extended Maine’s lead to 3-1, with Kevin Pitts and Tristian Thibeault setting the goal up. Defenseman Cale Dubrul gave the Nordiques a 4-1 lead later in the second period, and his defensive partner Luke Antonacci had the assist.
The three-goal lead gave the Nordiques a boost.
“It gave us confidence to keep doing what we were doing,” Howe said. “It’s always better to have a three-goal lead than a two-goal lead.”
Northeast notched its second goal with a little over three minutes remaining in the game, off the stick of Thadeus Marcola.
Sacred Heart commit Andrius Kulbis-Marino, who had an assist on Soderling’s goal, added the empty-netter with just under two minutes remaining in the contest.
The first period saw the teams score goals 21 seconds apart late in the frame. Cannon Green gave the Nordiques a 1-0 lead with 4:54 remaining in the period and the Generals tied the contest up when Trinity College commit Gerard Marretta found the back of the net.
Wesley Mankowski stopped 40 shots for the win for Maine, while Joey Stanizzi stopped 27 shots for the Generals in the loss.
The two teams wrap up the three-game weekend series tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the Colisee in a rubber match, as the Generals won Friday night.
“Everything is on the line here,” Howe said. “It will be our 50th game of the season and every point is crucial right now; every game is crucial. Hopefully we come out with the series win tomorrow, hopefully it’s more like tonight than Friday.”
NA3HL
L/A 10, New England Knights 4
Will Fletcher had two goals and two assists to lift the Nordiques to victory at Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
Michael Keller and Jackson Vercellono each had two goals for the Nordiques. Tyler Larson, Bradley McMains and Joe Clark each had a goal and an assist. Sam Frechette also scored.
Nolan Murphy had a goal and two assists for the Knights, with Kyle Madigan, Jake Willis and Mitchell Shullman also scoring.
Jason St. Pierre made 23 saves for the Nordiques. Patrick Gribbin and Zach Roncarati combined to make 37 saves for the Knights.
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