Entering Friday night’s matchup, the Maine Nordiques and the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks were two of the lowest-scoring teams in the entire North American Hockey League.
The Hat Tricks added to their goal-scoring total with a 2-1 victory over the Nordiques in an East Division contest at The Colisee.
Danbury (2-12-0, 4 points) was 29th in the 29-team league with 17 goals in 13 games heading into Friday’s game, while the Nordiques (2-7-0, 4 points) had scored 22, which tied for 26th.
“We weren’t looking to keep it close at all; we could have come out of the second period 4- or 5-1 with how many chances we created,” Maine Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky said.
Goalie Adam Johnson stopped 25 shots in the win for Danbury, while Thomas Heaney made 14 saves for the Nordiques.
“(Danbury) has a good goaltender; he competed hard in the net,” Pinchevsky said. “We could have given a little more support late in the game to our goaltender, who gave us an opportunity to win.”
Ryan Johnson gave the Hat Tricks a 1-0 lead by notching a power-play goal with 3:48 remaining in the first period.
Danbury was 1-for-3 on the man advantage, while Maine went 0-for-2.
The Nordiques responded early in the second period when forward Anthony Achille scored his first goal of the season in the first minute. Linemates Oliver Genest and Patrick Schmiedlin recorded the assists.
Schmiedlin recently committed to Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri. The Lions are currently playing in their first season as an NCAA Division I hockey program.
Pinchevsky said Schmiedlin, Genest and Filip Wiberg did well taking the faceoffs.
“The guys who typically win draws for us: Filip Wiberg, it was nice to see Oliver Genest and Patrick Schmiedlin take some responsibilities at center and do very well in the dot for us,” Pinchevsky said.
Logan Furstenau broke the 1-1 deadlock midway through the third period for Danbury. Chase Sandhu and Sean Matthews notched the assists.
Pinchevsky said the Nordiques had chances late in the game with the goalie pulled.
The teams meet again on Saturday at The Colisee at 7 p.m.
“With five games in nine days (starting Friday), we are going to get in a rhythm and a flow that we are really excited about,” Pinchevsky said. “We would have liked to start off better tonight and we aren’t happy that we lost, but we have an opportunity to start building on it game-by-game the next couple of days here and make sure we own the rest of October.”
The Nordiques travel to face the Northeast Generals in Attleboro, Massachusetts, on Tuesday and then face the Hat Tricks in Danbury, Connecticut, next Friday and Saturday.
EVAN ORLOFF RETURNS FROM USHL
Maine got a lineup boost with defenseman Evan Orloff returning to the team after starting the season with the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the Tier I United States Hockey League and playing in one game.
“Orloff had a lot of chances tonight and there are some things he wants to correct in his game,” Pinchevsky said. “He has a strong desire to get better and he’s a Division I player, in my opinion. He just needs to get settled in and get in a flow with the team. He’s definitely going to help in all aspects, and we are really happy that this is his hockey home.”
Orloff tallied five goals and 13 assists in 58 games with the Nordiques last season.
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