LEWISTON — The Maine Nordiques and the Johnstown Tomahawks like track meets.

On Saturday, the Tomahawks defeated the Nordiques 6-4 in an NAHL East Division game at The Colisee. The game was the Nordiques’ final home game of the season.

“If you look at the last four games we have played against these guys: In Johnstown, we had a 5-0 lead after the first (period on Feb. 11), and they beat us 6-5 in overtime,” Johnstown coach Mike Letizia said. “I think they were up 4-1 (the next night) with eight minutes to go, and we won 5-4 in a shootout. Last night, we had the lead, and they came back. We knew the game wasn’t going to be easy by any means. It was a tough third, but we found a way.”

The Nordiques (21-26-10, 52 points) scored three goals in the third period to cut the deficit to 5-4 before a late goal capped the win for the Tomahawks (32-20-6, 70 points).

Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky said his team had the Tomahawks on the ropes in the third period.

“The team that ended up winning didn’t look like they believed they deserved to win,” Pinchevsky said. “When the final buzzer sounded, it didn’t look like a bench that was interested in continuing to play this season. I want to wish them a ton of luck; they are a great team, they are very well-coached, Mike has been doing this a long time, had a lot of success — they are one of the best organizations in the league, I’d say. Tonight, I don’t think they were as interested in winning as we were, but they came out on top.”

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Jacob Badal scored twice for Johnstown, and Jake Black, Johnstown’s leading scorer (41 goals, 34 assists) and a University of Connecticut commit, had a goal and an assist. Ethan Perrault also had a goal and an assist.

“(Badal and Black) are exceptional players,” Letizia said. “When the game is on the line, you need your guys that you can rely on in the big games. They both did a great job…Ethan Perrault had his first goal in the league. We had good contributions.”

Patrick Schmiedlin fired a shot from the right circle that went through Johnstown goalie Dominik Wasik’s five-hole for a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Forward Caden Pattison and defenseman Nicholas Bernardo had the assists.

Johnstown responded on the next shift when Perrault put home a rebound past Nordiques goalie Gus Holt (29 saves) to tie the game at 1-1.

Johnstown appeared to go up 2-1 in the middle of the second period, but the goal didn’t count as the referees called goalie interference on the play.

Special teams took over the remainder of the second period for the Tomahawks. A few minutes after the no-goal, Badal received a pass at the top of the right circle from Holt Oliphant, who was at the bottom of the left circle. Badal then blasted a shot past Holt to make it 2-1.

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“That was deflating, getting a goal called off, but a quick bounce-back goal is what we needed to bring up the team morale,” Badal said.

The Nordiques went on the power play when Johnstown’s Cedrick Theodore received a roughing penalty at the 16:56 mark. Tomahawks forward Johnny Ulicny created a turnover in the neutral zone, skated into the offensive zone, and slid the puck past Holt for a short-handed goal at the 17:43 mark to make it a 3-1 lead.

As the Theodore penalty winded down, Perrault sprung Black with a pass in the neutral zone and Black’s wrist shot beat Holt cleanly with 61 seconds remaining in the second period for an even-strength goal.

“It was nice to see those (goals) go in, and we had two breakaways in the third,” Letizia said. “Those guys had opportunities in the second, and it was the turning point in the game to give us that lead because (Maine) scored a bunch of goals in the third.”

Theo Thrun scored early in the third period on the power play with a blast from the point to cut the deficit to 4-2 for the Nordiques. Forwards Ignat Belov and Reese Farrell had the assists.

“I was happy we were able to capitalize on the power play,” Pinchevsky said. “They were able to capitalize on the many power-play attempts they had. We’d like those (breakaway) goals back, but we earned them back — both those goals, we earned back.

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“It could have been a less officiated game, and it would have been a better hockey game. But then you had two teams that were focused on the officials. I am guilty of it, so was their coach. So was my bench and their bench. With three teams playing tonight, I think two of them won actually.”

Badal scored a power-play goal of his own to restore the Tomahawks’ three-goal lead 2:46 into the third period.

Johnstown went 2-for-6 on the power play and Maine went 1-for-6.

Maine continued to battle. Aidan Connolly made a pass on a 2-on-1 to Zion Green, who tapped the puck into the goal for the Nordiques’ third goal nearly five minutes into the third period.

Johnstown’s lead dwindled to 5-4 after Nordiques forward Filip Wiberg fired a shot past Wasik (32 saves) at the 7:11 mark of the third period. Schmiedlin had the assist.

The referees awarded a goal to Johnstown’s Egan Schmitt when Maine took a penalty to stop an empty-net scoring attempt.

The Nordiques face the Northeast Generals on Sunday in Attleboro, Massachusetts at 2:30 p.m. Maine then has a road game against the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks on Wednesday at 7 p.m.


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