The Jersey Hitmen continued to run an efficient power play Monday in a 4-3 come-from-behind victory against the Twin City Thunder in a USPHL National Collegiate Development Conference game in Marlborough, Massachusetts.

The Hitmen (6-0, 12 points) went 2 for 3 on the power play. They are now at a league-leading 45.5 percent on power plays through their first six games. The Thunder (3-2, 6 points) were 0 for 4 on the man advantage Monday in their final game at the Junior Bruins Shootout showcase.

“You can’t afford to put them on the power play,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “I thought 5-on-5, we had the better of the play. … It comes down to special teams; I think the team that has the best special teams is the team that ends up winning it all. They got pretty good special teams.”

Hitmen’s Vincent Gould scored a power-play goal with 37 seconds remaining in the second period cutting the deficit to 3-1.

Tyler McNeil notched his league-leading sixth goal of the season on the man advantage early in the third period to put the Hitmen within one goal of the Thunder.

Eleven seconds later, Nick Braun beat Thunder goalie Try Miller (19 saves) to tie the game at 3-3.

Dante Siciliano scored the game-winning goal for Jersey with eight minutes remaining in the third.

After a scoreless first period, forward Eddie Paulissian’s goal gave the Thunder a 1-0 lead midway through the second period. Linemate Ben Portner and defenseman Anthony Marra had the assists.

Paulissian assisted on Patrick Last’s goal, which put Twin City up 2-0 with 7:20 to go in the middle frame.

Paulissian beat Hitmen goalie Logan Abric (32 saves) again to stretch the Thunder’s lead to 3-0 with 3:11 remaining in the second. Nolan Leonard set the tally up.

“(Paulissian) had a really good game. He has been with us for a couple of weeks and he’s starting to come out of his shell a little bit,” Hodge said. “(He is a part of our) secondary scoring and it’s nice to see him get two (goals).”

The Thunder play in another showcase later this week, traveling to Wayne, New Jersey — the home of the Hitmen — for the Hitmen Classic. The Thunder three games, against the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Knights (Thursday), P.A.L. Islanders (Friday) and the Rockets Hockey Club (Saturday)

THUNDER ADD TO ROSTER

Twin City made a host of transactions this weekend.

“I think going into (the weekend), we had a pretty good core and we have added a few pieces that will make our core better,” Hodge said. “We did that, and now we are at a point now we will work with what we have.”

They added forwards Rick Davies and Hunter Young from the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks of the North American Hockey League. Davies scored twice in Twin City’s 4-3 loss to the Rockets Hockey Club on Sunday.

Young and another newcomer Ty Walker — acquired in a trade from Wilkes-Barre Scranton — both had an assist on Sunday.

Defenseman Andrew Simonchyk came from the PAL Islanders and had an assist in Thunder’s loss Monday.

The Thunder added two more players from the Maine Nordiques’ organization in defenseman Martin Marnauzs and forward Brogan Shea, who played for the Maine Nordiques Academy 16U team in 2020-21.

Marnauzs played 19 games for the Nordiques’ NAHL team last season, recording two assists. He started this season with the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs of the NCDC.

Shea, who joined the Thunder on Monday, began this season with the South Shore Kings of the NCDC before joining the Philadelphia Hockey Club of the Eastern Hockey League.

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