Levente Keresztes scored three goals in a row to help stop the Twin City Thunder’s three-game losing streak Saturday.
Keresztes’ natural hat trick helped the Thunder defeat the Rockets Hockey Club 5-2 at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
“He had a couple nice goals,” Thunder coach Doug Friedman said. “It’s good for him and his confidence, he was working hard and he was involved a lot throughout the game. His second goal at the end of first period was a real nice goal, and a big goal momentum-wise.”
After the three losses to the Northern Cyclones, Boston Junior Bruins and New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, the Thunder (24-22-1, 49 points) fell out of the eighth and final playoff spot. The win Saturday puts them in a tie for eighth with the Boston Bandits.
Friedman said the team can only control their own results. He’s happy the team got a win after the work the players put in this week.
“It was a good effort and a nice outcome,” Friedman said. “We needed that (win), the guys needed that as they worked hard this week. It’s nice to see the effort.”
Keresztes put the Thunder on top 2-1 after the first 20 minutes.
His first goal came around the midway point of the first period, with Andrew Kurapov and Nicolas Poirier notching the helpers. Before the buzzer sounded Keresztes had his second goal.
Ryan Sorkin put the Rockets up 1-0 nearly eight minutes into the game.
Keresztes completed the natural hat trick for a 3-1 lead six-plus minutes into the middle frame. Lewiston native Jeromey Rancourt set up the goal.
Harrison Bazianos recorded his second point of the night with Rockets (15-26-6, 36 points) goal that cut the deficit to 3-2.
Twin City’s Christian Blomquist added an insurance goal on a power play in the third period.
“We had a couple power plays in the third, we had a couple of good looks on it Christian, specifically, did,” Friedman said. “The goalie made a couple of good saves on some of his opportunities. It was good for him to get that goal just for his confidence. It was good for the team, too.”
Nick Latvala scored in the final seconds for the Thunder.
Twin City goalie Jaxon Friedman made 43 saves, while Luke Greenwood stopped 40 shots for the Rockets.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.