Levente Keresztes returned to the Twin Cities and helped the New Jersey Titans take down the Maine Nordiques on Saturday.

The former Twin City Thunder forward and Long Island University commit had a hat trick and an assist in the Titans’ 7-6 victory over the Nordiques in an NAHL East Division game at The Colisee in Lewiston.

Keresztes now has 13 goals and 16 assists in 42 games for the Titans (35-12-2, 72 points).

Saturday was the second time in two days that New Jersey rallied back from a multiple-goal deficit and then defeated Maine in overtime. The Titans overcame a two-goal deficit in Friday’s game and won 4-3 in overtime. On Saturday, the Nordiques twice led by three goals.

“It was almost like deja vu fashion, it was like watching the same game, with (more scoring) and different goalies in net,” Maine Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky said.

The Nordiques (15-23-8, 38 points) began Saturday’s game with a strong opening 20 minutes.

Forward Ignat Belov’s 14th goal of the season, scored on a power play, gave Maine a 1-0 lead 12:30 into the first period. Nicholas Bernardo and Aidan Connolly had the assists.

Auburn native Reese Farrell scored his seventh goal of the year a few minutes later for a 2-0 Nordiques advantage.

“One (goal) was very good power play execution and the other was from one of the hardest shooters (Farrell) on our team taking a shot at their goalie and putting it past him,” Pinchevsky said.

Pinchevsky said the first period set the pace for the Nordiques as they built a big lead in the second.

New Jersey bounced back early in the second when Ryan Coughlin scored 79 seconds into the period. Keresztes’ firs goal tied the game at 2-2 a little past the four-minute mark.

The Nordiques answered with three goals in a little over three minutes, two by Filip Wiberg.

Wiberg scored his first 6:25 into the second period and then Connolly scored three minutes later for his 15th goal of the year.

Eight seconds after Connolly’s goal, Wiberg scored his second goal to give the Nordiques a 5-2 lead at the 9:33 mark.

The goal marked the end of Andrew Takacs night in the Titans’ goal. He made five saves on 10 shots. Ben Charette came in relief and stopped 15 of 16 shots.

“The second period is when we started to hit the details and capitalize on their mistakes that we were forcing by taking away their time and space,” Pinchevsky said.

Keresztes’ second goal of the second period, at the 14:20 mark, cut the deficit to 5-3.

Belov scored his second goal of the game midway through the third period to extend Maine’s lead to 6-3.

The Titans started to chip away at the deficit when the University of Maine commit Anthony Calafiore, the hero of Friday’s game, scored his 22nd goal of the season at the 12:39 mark.

Michael Young put New Jersey within one goal, 6-5,  35 seconds later.

Keresztes completed the hat trick at the 16:44 mark of the third to tie the game 6-6.

Pinchevsky said the Nordiques played too cautious in the third period.

“We were offering more time and space and we were giving a little too much respect to our opponent in certain situations,” Pinchevsky said. “A lot of those situations had to do with our (defensive) zone, and that’s where they were able to capitalize.”

Keresztes then set up the game-winning goal by Chris Carroll with 1:18 remaining in overtime.

Maine goalie Gus Holt made 43 saves in the loss.

The Nordiques will host the Northeast Generals next weekend for a three-game set. Friday and Saturday will be 7 p.m. starts, and Sunday’s game will be at 1 p.m.

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