After nearly going the whole first month of the year without a victory, the Maine Nordiques ended January on a winning note.

The Nordiques snapped their six-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over the Jamestown Rebels in an NAHL East Division contest at Northwest Arena in Jamestown, New York on Saturday.

After going down in the first period, the Nordiques (11-22-4, 26 points) scored six unanswered goals, including five in the second period. Forward Zion Green had two of those second-period tallies.

“(The second period) was pretty electric, the first intermission wasn’t probably so electric,” Maine Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky said. “The minute the (coaching) staff and I left the locker room and we just let the team be a team, they came out (for the second period) as a team. They achieved as a team and they worked hard as a team.”

The first 20 minutes of the game didn’t go the Nordiques’ way. Midway through the first period, Trevor Burns scored to give the Rebels a 1-0 lead. Jay Vaarwerk stretched Jamestown’s (19-16-3, 41 points) lead to 2-0 with five and half minutes remaining in the first. Conor Sedlak scored to make it 3-0 before the end of the period.

“I think there were a lot of details being hit in the first period by Jamestown and not too many by us,” Pinchevsky said. “It was a tale of two (games). We started hitting our details (in the second period) and Jamestown started getting away from them.”

Ignat Belov started the scoring in the second period for the Nordiques with his 10th goal of the year two minutes into the frame. Tyler Gaulin and Brendon Gibbons set the goal up.

Just past the four-minute mark of the middle period, Patrick Schmiedlin closed Maine’s deficit to 3-2. Aidan Connolly had the assist.

Pinchevsky said Schmiedlin was the most dominant player on the ice this weekend.

Green scored back-to-back goals in the middle of the second period. He tied the game at 3-3 on the power play with nine and half minutes remaining in the period. Theo Thrun and Caden Pattison had the assists.

Green, a Northern Michigan commit, gave the Nordiques the 4-3 lead 36 seconds later, with Connolly and Gibbons recording their second assists of the night.

“We had an offensive push with an offensive dynamic player like Zion Green,” Pinchevsky said. “He got the game puck after the game and he gave every bit of credit to the rest of the team. He said he couldn’t have done it without his brothers. He’s maturing quite nicely to the Division I player he’s going to be.”

Filip Wiberg gave the Nordiques a 5-3 lead with under three minutes remaining in the period. Schmiedlin and Thrun had the helpers.

“The (fans) knew it was slipping away from (Jamestown) and we weren’t going to be denied tonight,” Pinchevsky said. “We want to bring that type of effect to other visiting buildings.”

Connolly scored a power-play goal early in the third period to extend the lead to 6-3. Gaulin and Matthew Connors had the assists.

Maine went 2 for 3 on the power play and Jamestown was 0 for 2.

Gus Holt made 35 saves in the win. Jon Howe stopped 32 shots.

The Nordiques have next weekend off and return to action Feb. 11-12 to face the Johnstown Tomahawks in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

NORDIQUES ADD A DEFENSEMAN

Joining the Nordiques on Saturday was Ryan Bystrom, an 18-year-old defenseman.

The St. Louis, Missouri resident started the season with the Corpus Christi IceRays of the South Division. He had two assists in 10 games with the IceRays.

“Bystrom brought some stability and (competed hard) and he was really good on the penalty kills for us,” Pinchevsky said. “Our PK was perfect, but other than that, we are happy with his transition and he will only get better.”

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