The Twin City Thunder knocked off one of the top teams in the USPHL’s National Collegiate Development Conference, beating the Islanders Hockey Club 3-2 on Thursday in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts.

Islanders HC (22-4-5, 49 points) leads the USPHL New England Division and is the second-ranked team in the entire NCDC.

Twin City (8-16-2, 18 points) is last in the New England Division and ranks 17th out of 18 teams in the NCDC.

“We played well. I was happy with the performance,” Thunder coach Dan Hodge said. “I think it started last weekend, playing one of the top teams and playing well with our structure, and it kind of turned over to today. I thought we played well in our structure.”

The Thunder played a three-game set against the South Shore Kings, ranked fifth in the NCDC and second in the division, over the weekend. The Kings won two of the three games, but only outscored Twin City 6-5.

Edvin Robertsson gave the Thunder a 1-0 advantage in the first period of Thursday’s contest at Skate 3 Ice Arena.

Islanders’ Maksim Tsegelnik evened the contest when he got the puck past Thunder goalie Jeff Kreidler 6:18 into the second period.

John Clay Humphreys restored the lead for the Thunder nearly 13 minutes into the second when he beat Islanders Hockey Club goalie Ean Badgett (26 saves).

Tsegelnik responded again for the Islanders late in the middle period to tie the game at 2-2.

Leo Mantenuto scored the go-ahead goal for Twin City on a power play 75 seconds into the third.

“Before Christmas, if it was tied 2-2, and they (the opposition) would score a goal in the third or something would have happened,” Hodge said. “But today we figured it out without blaming each other, and we scored that early in the period — you have to be strong defensively.”

Cole Roenick, Tyler Hansen, Antonio Arcaroli, Tyler Kelly, James Tatro, and Stanley Bright all had assists for the Thunder.

Kreidler made 33 saves in the win.

“He made the first save — he controlled rebounds, when we got scrambly, he knew how to get the puck out of play, got some tips out of play,” Hodge said. “He controlled the game.”

The Thunder continue the road trip on Friday when they travel to Marlborough, Massachusetts, to take on the Junior Bruins at 2:30 p.m. Twin City then returns to Auburn to face the Islanders Hockey Club at Norway Savings Bank Arena on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

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