After playing seven consecutive games against each other, with the potential for four more, it’s safe to say the Maine Mariners and Adirondack Thunder have built up a deep reservoir of contempt for one another.

“We’ve been talking all week about how we need to continue to grow the hatred for the Adirondack Thunder, and I think it leveled up tonight,” Maine Coach Terrence Wallin said after his team’s 4-1 win Friday night at Cross Insurance Arena in Game 3 of an ECHL first-round playoff series. “This is a playoff series, but we played them the last four games of the regular season, too. We’re already headed into game eight with these guys.”

That mutual disdain was seen in the 58 combined penalty minutes that the Mariners and Thunder racked up. Maine now leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1. These teams will be back on the Cross Insurance Arena ice at 6 p.m. Saturday for Game 4.

An announced crowd of 3,702 saw the Mariners score a pair of goals in the first 12 minutes, and that was enough for the win. Maine goalie Brad Arvanitis was sharp in his third straight playoff start, making 28 saves.

Wallin called the game a complete win.

“I think it starts from the back out. Arvi has been unbelievable for us all three games of the series. I think our D corp defended really hard and kept pucks out of the middle, and I thought our forwards drove the bus a little bit with some of our hunts early in the game, and it kind of set the tone,” Wallin said.

The Mariners took an early lead by scoring twice in a span of 3:49. First, Fedor Gordeev skated left to right behind Adirondack’s net and made a pass to Ty Cheveldayoff, who was parked at the left post. Cheveldayoff poked home the puck to give Maine a 1-0 lead at 7:48. It was his first power-play goal, and second overall with the Mariners since joining the team for the final two games of the regular season from the Spokane Chiefs, his junior club.

“I’m super grateful for the opportunity here. I’ve kind of been through it. I had playoffs in Spokane in juniors. My mentality was still the same,” the 20-year-old wing said. “Be in playoff mode and do everything I can to help this team. We bought in tonight.”

At 11:37, Andrew Peski took an Alex Kile pass, skated into the offensive zone and fired a shot from the left circle that beat Thunder goalie Isaac Poulter for a 2-0 lead. A defenseman, Peski scored just one goal during the regular season.

“AK (Kile) made a great play. We’ve been pre-scouting a lot that they over backcheck, so I just kind of slipped into the right area and got it through,” Peski said.

Adirondack answered at 14:34 of the first, as Andre Ghantous cut Maine’s lead to 2-1.

Owen Pederson’s empty-net goal at 18:17 of the third clinched the win for the Mariners after they killed a pair of Thunder power-play opportunities in the final 10 minutes. Adirondack was 0 for 6 on the power play.

“We’ve just been harping on it all series. We were able to kill things off and swing the momentum our way,” Peski said. “Blocking shots, that might have been a record-high, what he had tonight. That just the willingness to put the body on the line and wanting that win.”

Brooklyn Kalmikov added another empty-net goal at 19:18.

Poulter stopped 24 shots for the Thunder.

“I think Game 3 of any seven-game series is kind of the swing game,” Wallin said. “I think what we’ve done for ourselves is set ourselves up for a lot of success now, because you have a whole week to prepare, and it’s exciting for us as a staff to see the changes we made work.”

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