AUBURN — Twin City Thunder forward Sam Stitz put in some extra work this week in practice with assistant coach Cam Robichaud, and it showed Saturday night.

The 19-year-old had two goals and an assist in the Thunder’s 5-3 victory over the Boston Advantage in a USPHL National Collegiate Development Conference game at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

“He and coach Robichaud worked real hard this week,” Thunder head coach Dan Hodge said. “(Stitz) played hard today and the hard work paid off for him. He was running around all night, found some rebounds, and creating offense for himself.”

Aidan Trainor opened the scoring for the Advantage (16-18-2, 34 points) when he shot the puck past Thunder goalie Dane Couture nearly eight minutes into the first period.

Four minutes later, Chance Heaphy’s shot snuck in between the post and Couture’s right pad to put Boston up 2-0. Cam Lowe and Trainor had the assists.

“When that line is going — (Trainor), (Heaphy) and (Lowe) — we need to take advantage of our higher-end guys to step up and our top line to score some more goals,” Advantage coach Dan Szerlip said.

The Thunder (18-14-3, 39 points) dug out of the 2-0 deficit when Stitz scored his eighth goal of the year with 5:17 remaining in the first period. Linemates Nathan Chickering and Tristan Rand had the assists.

Szerlip said they didn’t think that goal went in.

“We can only control the things we do,” Szerlip said. “We aren’t going to get hung up on it. We need to find ways to win the game.”

Trace Norwell tied the game at 2-2 with his 11th goal of the season with 2:33 remaining in the first period. Tyler Healy and Rand had the assists.

Twin City thought they had a 3-2 lead in the final minute of the first period, as the Thunder felt the puck crossed the goal line, but the officials waved it off.

“The guys thought it was in the back of the net, but it is what it is,” Hodge said. “There’s no (review) here or instant replay; we go with what the refs say.”

The Thunder did get a power play off the play, as the Advantage had too many men on the ice.

The power play carried into the second period. Stitz set up Healey with a power-play goal as Stitz made a pass to Healey, who was cutting in on the backdoor for a 3-2 lead in the opening minute of the second period.

This week, Healey was named NCDC North Division Forward of the Month for January.

The lead only lasted a few minutes when Thunder defenseman Judd Katz took a holding penalty. The Advantage set its power play off the faceoff in a 1-3-1 formation and 16-year-old Will McDonough ripped a shot past Couture (31 saves).

“He’s a high-end goal scorer, so if you give him time in the slot like that, more times than not, it’s going into the net,” Szerlip said.

Connor Bradford made a handful of saves for the Advantage in the second period, which kept the game 3-3.

“Chickering had a breakaway and tucked the puck in between (Bradford’s) pads; I don’t know he saved it,” Hodge said. “He’s a good goalie. He makes a lot of big saves and an amazing glove hand.”

Bradford made 26 saves in the game.

Lewiston native Dom Chasse had a chance to shoot the puck on goal early in the third period, but the puck rolled off his stick and behind the Advantage net. After the puck shot out to Thunder defenseman Lucas Doran, who shot it wide, Chasse then directed the puck towards the goal from behind the net, deflected off Bradford’s pads and Stitz crashed into the slot for his second goal of the game 86 seconds into the period.

Chickering scored an empty-net goal with 20 seconds left to cap the scoring.

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