LEWISTON — The Maine Nordiques are one game away from the NAHL East Division Final.

The Nordiques held on for a 5-2 win over the Rochester Jr. American in Game 2 of their best-of-five divisional semifinal series in front of a raucous crowd The Colisee on Saturday night.

In Game 1, the announced attendance was 1,623 fans. In Game 2, there was a similar-sized crowd.

“We were all into it as a team,” Nordiques forward Shane Kozlina said. “Our fans helped us tremendously. It’s the most attendance I’ve seen this year and the energy and the support they give is awesome.”

The Jr. Americans scored both of their goals in the third period.

Maine only needs to win one of two games next weekend in Rochester to take on either the New Jersey Titans or the Maryland Black Bears in the East Final.

Nordiques goaltender Carter Richardson made 45 saves in the win. Kozlina had a goal and two assists.

“They were getting a lot of chances but our defense did a good job blocking shots,” Richardson said. “They made it a bit easier.”

After an early chance by Nils Forselius for the Nordiques, the Americans controlled play in their zone and had seven shots on goal through the first eight minutes.

Maine weathered Rochester’s push and Zion Green got the Nordiques on the board after he received a pass from defenseman David Helledy. Green chipped his shot past Americans goalie Cole O’Donnell (28 saves) from the right circle 9:30 into the opening period.

“It was the exact play that we worked on all week in practice,” Maine Nordiques coach Nick Skerlick said. “For Zion Green to get open and touch the puck, that was exciting. Then to have a depth forward outwork two guys to put one in — that changed our whole momentum. It was good for about 26 minutes. It was dominant for the Nordiques and I think the kids fed off the crowd.”

A few minutes later, O’Donnell made a save but lost sight of the puck for a split second. Maine’s Nick Ramm fired home the loose puck for a 2-0 lead. Kozlina and Evan Orloff had the assists.

The Nordiques thought they scored early in the second period when the puck squirted through O’Connell. However, the puck went in after the official blew the whistle to stop play.

Defenseman Alex Park did find the back of the net for the Nordiques nearly seven minutes into the period. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Park maneuvered his way to the offensive zone and ripped a shot past O’Connell. Forwards Kozlina and Jake Bernadet had the assists.

“I forgot he scored,” Skerlick said. “His game defensively was so good, and he scored.”

Skerlick said Park suffered a should injury in the game but Park did come back into the contest.

Rochester made a late-period push to get on the board before the second intermission, but Richardson made the saves for the Nordiques.

Richardson said he just focuses on the next shot by taking a few seconds to reset when there’s a stoppage.

“After I make a save, I just take a skate, (talking) to a ref, taking a breath, having a drink of water, and just focus on the next play,” Richardson said.

Luca Leighton got the Americans on the board early in the third when he beat Richardson nearly at point-blank range from the slot after receiving a pass from Massimo Gentile.

Rochester got a chance at momentum again when Nordiques forward Ryan Panico cross-checked an Americans player into his bench, earning Panico a trip to the penalty box.

Maine killed the penalty off, but moments later Thomas Rockey’s shot in a scramble in front of the Nordiques crease beat Richardson midway through the third period.

“Ryan Panico put a kid into the bench for no reason, which we will have a stern talking to Mr. Panico because that really hurt us,” Skerlick said. “We kill the power play and then they scored — that hurt us. Credit to him, we did give him another opportunity to go out there to make up for his mistake and he did a really nice job.”

Kozlina sealed the game when he chased down the puck and tapped it home into the empty net with a minute remaining. Helledy and Richardson recorded assists.

“I work on my speed a lot and it just helps,” Kozlina said.

Charles Tardif scored another empty-net goal when he was the last Nordiques player to touch the puck and it deflected off a Rochester player into the open frame on a defensive-zone faceoff in the final minute.

Skerlick said they had the Americans’ game plan down pat when they pulled O’Connell.

“We liked the 6-on-5 opportunity,” Skerlick said. “We knew where Matteo Disipio was going to sit because he tied up a game on us about three weeks ago and we (knew) exactly where he was going to go.”

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