LEWISTON – If you liked power plays, the Maine Nordiques and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights game Friday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee was for you.

The Knights went 5-for-8 on the man advantage en route to a 9-6 victory over the Nordiques, who went 4-for-8 on the man advantage.

“Terrible reffing,” Knights GM and coach Tom Kowal said. “It’s unfortunate to play a hockey game like that and that’s the major thing, but for us we got the upper hand.”

Both teams had a five-minute major power play. The Nordiques were also called for a double-minor, while the Knights received a bench minor at the end of the game after the refs blew the play dead before the Nordiques scored then reversed the decision to allow the goal,

Nordiques coach Nolan Howe had no comment in regards to the officiating.

He was concerned about giving the Knights ample chances to score on the man advantage.

“Obviously, we can’t take that many penalties. They are one of the top power plays in the league, if not the top power plays in the league,” Howe said. “We did a good job shutting them down yesterday (in a 6-5 Knights win), but tonight we did not get the job done.”

The Knights exploded with five goals in the second period as Logan Hatten scored just before the five-minute mark of the period.

The score remained 3-1 for the Knights until Cole Ouellette cut the deficit in half for the Nordiques right in the slot as he snapped a shot past Knights goalie Zach Stejskal with 6:48 remaining in the period. The goal was set up by Noah Kane and Timmy Kent.

“We scored to make it 3-2, again we gave up nine goals against,” Howe said. “You aren’t going to win hockey games giving up nine.”

The Knights (26-21-5, 57 points) answered as Hatten scored 35 seconds after Ouellette’s goal.

Ouellette found himself on the game sheet again when he was called for a double minor for high sticking. Johnny Kaljian and Christopher Rubenach scored power play goals with Ouellette in the box to make the game 6-2. The goals were 18 seconds apart.

Rubenach scored another power play marker with the Nordiques’ Isaiah Fox in the box with 3:33 remaining in the period to take a 7-2 lead into the third period.

“You had two great hockey teams out there and it’s unfortunate that it came down to a special teams game,” Kowal said. “Luckily for us, the Knights were a little bit better than their special teams tonight.”

The Nordiques (20-32-2, 42 points) tried to chip away at the deficit in the third period. While Maine was on a 5-on-3, Sacred Heart commit Andrius Kulbis-Marino’s slap shot found the back of the net.

Nikita Asylaev scored twice to make it 9-3 Knights.

Trent Grimshaw started the Nordiques’ late period surge with a goal.

With the Nordiques on a five-minute major, which included a 5-on-3 power play, Tyler Gaulin scored twice. Gaulin signed a tender this week for next season and is able to play the rest of the year for the Nordiques as his season with Berwick Academy is over. His first goal was originally blown dead before the referee reversed his decision.

Kowal did not get an explanation from the officials.

“No, the ref won’t talk to us, they will only talk to (the media),” Kowal said. “Obviously the ref had a bad night. We all have bad nights. If you ask the ref he will probably say it.”

Cannon Green had a nice second effort to put theNordiques up 1-0 in the first period as he whiffed first then went to the backhand to beat Zach Stejskal. His linemates Tim Kent and Noah Kane had the assists.

After the goal, the tables turned to the Knights’ direction for the remainder of the opening stanza. They started peppering Nordiques goalie Wesley Mankowski. Mankowski did his best as he stopped the first 12 shots of the evening.

On the 13th shot of the night Michael Sacco skated to the back door to put home as pass from John Serefin with 3:17 remaining in the first period. Zac Currie who had the secondary assist on goal scored 62 seconds later after Sacco fed him a pass.

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