Ben Muthersbaugh continued where he left off Friday night.
The 18-year-old forward scored a hat trick in the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs’ 5-3 junior hockey victory over the Twin City Thunder on Saturday at Tri-Town Arena in Hooksett, New Hampshire.
Muthersbaugh, who now has 20 goals this season, scored the overtime winner against the Thunder on Friday.
“He’s a good player. They got so many players on that team,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “They got so many kids you want to key on. (Tanner) Hartman has done a lot of damage on us in the past, Muthersbaugh scored a game-winner last night and a hat trick tonight.”
Despite the loss, the Thunder (21-17-6, 48 points) still maintain a two-point advantage over the Northern Cyclones (21-20-4, 46 points) for the fourth and final playoff spot in the USPHL National Collegiate Development Conference North Division. Meanwhile, the Monarchs (26-14-5, 57 points) are first in the division with a two-point advantage over the Jr. Bruins (25-15-5, 55 points).
The Thunder again played the Monarchs tight in Saturday’s matchup, battling back from a two-goal deficit to tie the game at 3-3 on Tristan Rand’s 18th goal of the season, at the 7:04 mark of the third period.
The tie was broken 25 seconds later when Aidan Curran scored to regain the lead for the Monarchs, 4-3.
New Hampshire held the lead this time, and Muthersbaugh’s goal with 33 seconds remaining completed his hat trick and all but locked up the Monarchs’ victory.
The Thunder took the first lead of the game on a goal by Tyler Healey that was set up by defenseman Ryan Hintz and forward Trace Norwell 12:29 into the first period.
In a sign of things to come, Muthersbaugh’s first goal tied the game 21 seconds later.
“Twice they scored the very next shift,” Hodge said. “We didn’t do a very good job recognizing situations. In the first period, we scored and they came back and tied it. We tied it 3-3, we worked hard to tie it, and the next shift we gave up a goal.”
Tanner Hartman scored under a minute remaining in the first period to give the Monarchs a 2-1 lead.
Muthersbaugh scored his second in the opening two minutes of the second period to extend New Hampshire’s advantage to two goals.
Dom Chasse’s 11th goal of the season put the Thunder within one, 3-2, nearly six minutes into the second. Sam Stitz and Hintz had the assists.
“We had some good opportunities; we outshot them again, 45-37,” Hodge said. “Goalie Dane (Couture) played really well.”
Couture made 32 saves for the Thunder, and Mitchell Day stopped 42 shots for the Monarchs.
The Thunder return to Norway Savings Bank Arena on Wednesday to take on the Boston Advantage at 3:30 p.m.
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