Junior hockey: Northeast Generals put away from Maine Nordiques with pair of empty-net goals

The Northeast Generals bounced back Friday after dropping a decision to the Maine Nordiques on Thursday.

Northeast defeated Maine 4-1 in an NAHL East Division game at the New England Sports Village in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

The Nordiques (22-16-3, 47 points) fired 42 shots on Generals goalie Cullen DeYoung, but the Michigan native made 41 saves.

“The amount of chances and the time on the attack in the offensive zone, we put that team on a half of a rink for probably 50 minutes,” Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky said. “The only time they had sustained pressure was when they were on the power play.”

Thomas Heaney stopped 28 shots for Maine.

David Andreychuk and Paul Minnehan each had a goal and two assists for the Generals (24-16-5, 53 points).

Minnehan put the Generals on the board midway through the first period with a power-play goal. Andreychuk and Nick Recupero had the assists.

Forward Henrik Hallberg tied the game for Maine early in the second period with his 17th tally of the season. Tony Achille had the helper.

“We come out of a penalty kill sequence and Hallberg out of the box there, then he goes on a breakaway, from a pass from Tony Achille, Pinchevsky said. “He let the goalie know why he’s such a dangerous goal-scorer.”

Sixten Jennersjo scored nearly 14 minutes into the second period, putting the Generals up 2-1. Jacob Wilson and Jake LaRusson had the assists.

Maine had a 5-on-3 power play early in the third period, but couldn’t convert.

“We had some good looks, but I feel like their penalty kill 5-on-3 was very tenacious, very hard on the dot, they were getting in (passing) lanes,” Pinchevsky said. “I felt we possessed the puck on the power play more so than delivering pucks. That’s something we are going to correct moving forward.”

Maine went 0 for 4 on the power play in the game and Northeast finished 1 for 7.

Joseph Schubert and Andreychuk scored empty-net goals in the final two minutes of the game.

The teams meet again Sunday at The Colisee in Lewiston for a 3 p.m. faceoff as the Nordiques are trying to chase down the Generals for third place in the East Division.

“We are going to bring back the momentum of splitting on the road and getting to come home to our fans on Sunday, and letting them know why we have that little bit of an extra jump in our step when they are out there cheering for us,” Pinchevsky said.