The Twin City Thunder comeback attempt came up short Wednesday morning against the Mercer Chiefs in a USPHL NCDC contest in Hudson, New Hampshire, as part of the Islanders Hockey Club Showcase.
The Thunder’s four-goal third period tied the game, but the Chiefs scored a power-play goal late to take a 7-6 victory.
“A portion of the game, we didn’t play our best and they capitalized,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “We responded in the third (period) and it was 6-6. I didn’t agree with the call that put (Mercer) on the power play, but it was made; we have to kill it.”
Hodge said the Thunder (10-9-1, 21 points) played hard to get back in a position to win the game.
Trevor Davis, Elowan Orne-Lynch and Keaton Lipsett each scored two goals for Mercer (14-7-2, 30 points), which is based out of Hamilton, New Jersey.
Trace Norwell scored twice for the Thunder.
Davis extended the Chiefs’ lead to 6-2 in the first minute of the third period, beating Thunder goalie Christopher Jackson.
Twin City rattled off four goals to tie the game. Edvin Robertsson scored just past the four-minute mark into the third period. Richard Davis scored a power-play goal, with defensemen Nicholas Pomerleau and Blake Tierney recording the assists with under eight minutes to go.
Eddie Paulissian potted his fifth goal of the season to get Twin City within 6-5. Robertsson provided the helper.
Norwell scored on a penalty shot past Chiefs goalie Ryan Keyes, tying the game at 6-6 with five and a half minutes left to play.
Davis scored the game-winning goal with 2:29 to play on the man-advantage.
Special teams are currently going in opposite directions for the Thunder.
“Fortunately, our power play is working really well, but we allowed (three goals) on the penalty kill (today),” Hodge said. “The power play is starting to turn around but our penalty kill, we need to find a happy medium between the two.”
The Thunder were 1-for-4 on the power play, while the Chiefs were 3-for-3.
Tommy Gannon opened the scoring for the Thunder in the middle of the first period for a 1-0 lead.
Mercer took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission as Lipsett, Thomas Rockey and Orme-Lynch found the back of the net.
Lipsett and Orme-Lynch scored power-play tallies in the second stanza, extending the lead to 5-1.
Norwell scored his first goal of the game in the final minute of the second period to get the Thunder within three goals.
The Thunder had a chance to get another goal before the period ended.
“The last 10 seconds, Blake Tierney hit the crossbar; it could have been 5-3 heading into the intermission.”
The Thunder close out the showcase Thursday against the Utica Jr. Comets at 9:30 a.m.
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