AUBURN — The Twin City Thunder felt like they had the go-ahead goal with about seven minutes remaining in Friday night’s game against the Islanders Hockey Club.
The Islanders, the first-place team in the USPHL NCDC New England Division, instead scored a late goal for a 3-2 victory at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Former Maine Nordiques goalie Kael DePape made 31 saves for the Islanders (30-8-5, 65 points) in his second game with the team after coming over from the Odessa Jackalopes of the North American Hockey League.
“It’s just playing for the guys; they work hard for me,” DePape said. “I am going to do my best to win every game and make every save I can.”
DePape spent the 2022-23 season with the Nordiques and was traded to Odessa in the offseason.
Things got interesting in the third with the score tied 2-2. Twin City (15-24-3, 33 points) celebrated what they thought was a goal 12:44 into the period, but play continued until the following whistle. The four officials got together and ruled the puck didn’t go in the net.
“The puck was down low there, and it got passed to the dot and it got a piece of the (defenseman) and deflected to the outside and hit the post,” DePape said.
Twin City Thunder coach Dan Hodge said it didn’t matter what he thinks of the play.
“It doesn’t matter what we saw,” Hodge chuckled. “To us, it was a goal, but it’s tough to take a goal away and at the end of the day, that’s the call.”
Islanders coach Tim Kyrkostas, who was on the near bench to the play, didn’t get a good look at it.
“It was a really quick shot, hit the post and fired out,” Kyrkostas said. “I can’t tell if it hits the crossbar or the bar. I can’t tell, it happened so fast.”
Later in the period, Twin City’s Nolan Leonard stole the puck away from Max Lundgren of the Islanders, then got hooked but still got a shot off on the breakaway nearly 15 minutes into the frame. The officials awarded Leonard a penalty shot, but he lost control of the puck right at the crease and DePape made the save.
“He came in a little too tight, a little too much speed and I poke-checked him,” DePape said.
Braxton Powers scored the game-winner with under two minutes remaining when the puck got through Thunder goalie Jeffrey Kreidler’s legs.
The Thunder put pressure on in the final minute but couldn’t get the tying goal.
The Islanders had territorial possession for most of the first period, outshooting the Thunder 18-8 in the opening stanza.
Daniel Woodford opened the scoring for the Islanders when Kreidler kicked out a rebound from a Trevor Castino shot and Woodford put home the puck midway through the first.
“They played hard,” Kyrkostas said of the Thunder. “I liked our first period; we played like a first-place team in the first period, and they played much harder in the second period and a lot of bad penalties were called. We found a way to get a win, which is good from our standpoint. We have to do a better job in terms of how we manage our game.”
On the Islanders’ first power play of the game in the middle of the first period, Thunder forward Denis Maliew blocked four shots on the penalty kill, and as a team, Thunder had five on that kill.
“(Denis) Maliew there, that penalty kill, just blocking shots,” Hodge said of what changed the momentum for the Thunder. “He blocked three or four. I told the guys, ‘You have to play like that, that’s the desperation we need. That’s the effort we need.'”
Twin City put five shots on DePape in the final two minutes of the opening stanza.
The Thunder carried the momentum into the middle frame and play started to open up in the middle of the period.
Scott Lagos tied the game on the man advantage for the Thunder when his shot squirted through DePape 9:45 into the second period. Edvin Robertsson and John Clay Humphreys had the helpers.
Patrick Last had a breakaway on the Thunder’s third power play of the second, but DePape made the stop.
The shots were a little more even, with the Thunder outshooting the Islanders 13-12 in the frame.
Jordan Bezio broke the 1-1 deadlock early in the third when he knocked the puck past Kreidler for a 2-1 Islanders lead. Kreidler made the initial stop on a Cody Plaza shot.
Lagos answered on the power play for the Thunder at the 8:24 mark when his shot beat DePape above the blocker.
“We played well. It was a good game,” Hodge said. “Give them credit, they are a good team and there’s a reason they are in first place.”
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