The Maine Nordiques continue to roll.

Maine defeated the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks 3-0 at the Danbury Ice Arena in Danbury, Connecticut, on Friday.

“Scoring in different dynamic ways, (assistant) coach (Colin) Merrill did a lot with skill development with entries and counter-attacks,” Maine Nordiques coach Matt Pinchevsky said. “A lot of things happened this week, carried over into game one; we still have to do it again tomorrow. I think we can be even better. I think we can apply even more pressure. We were ready to play and prepared to win.”

The teams meet again in Danbury on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Since Jan. 20, the Nordiques (24-16-3, 51 points) are 8-2-1 and are currently in the fourth and final playoff spot in the NAHL’s East Division.

Maine goalie Thomas Heaney stopped 26 shots for his first shutout of the season.

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“He’s one of the best players on the team,” Pinchevsky said of Heaney. “He has been working really hard to get that accolade as a goaltender. He did a really good (job) of achieving it. He made it look easy. He was seeing (the puck) well and was having fun. He was very communicative with his teammates.”

Karlis Mezsargs was also stellar, making 28 saves for Danbury (2-39-6, 10 points) in the loss.

Oliver Genest opened the scoring for the Nordiques in the final minute of the first period. Kellan Murphy and defenseman John-Paul Steele had the assists.

“Oliver Genest was a drive-type of goal, driving to the blue paint,” Pinchevsky said. “We are asking that for all of our players, but Oli was kind of the one that led the way. That’s two game-winning goals for that young man to help his team to earn those points.”

Genest had the game-winning goal in Sunday’s 2-1 win against the Northeast Generals.

Aidan Coupe scored early in the second period, giving the Nordiques a 2-0 advantage. Defenseman Nicholas Bernardo and forward Tony Achille had the assists.

Maine’s lead stretched to 3-0 after Henrik Hallberg’s power-play goal in the third period. Bernardo and forward Jonny Meiers set the tally up.

The Nordiques were 1 for 3 on the man-advantage and the Hat Tricks were 0 for 3.

“The special teams is a battle that we won in terms of a power-play goal for and 100 percent (penalty kill) that (assistant) coach (Ryan) Shelley runs,” Pinchevsky said.


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