The power play unit was a big reason why, scoring three times with the man advantage to climb back from an early deficit.
But the final power-play goal belonged to Falmouth and it proved to be the game-winner as the Yachtsmen skated away with a 5-4 victory over the Blue Devils at the Colisee. Falmouth, coming off its first loss of the season, remained unbeaten against the East in three meetings this season.
“They decided they wanted to win the hockey game,” Falmouth coach Deron Barton said. “They gave away two periods to that undisciplined play and the third period they came together. Sometimes that’s too late and they have to learn that lesson.”
The Yachtsmen (9-1) jumped out to a 3-0 lead mid way through the second period after Isac Nordstrom and Jake Grade netted back-to-back goals less than two minutes apart.
“It was a little deflating after given up the three-goal lead and obviously we turned it around with the power play,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “First period I thought we executed really well. We had a breakdown in coverage and they scored that first goal, but we put pucks to the net and their goalie made a lot of good saves.”
The momentum shifted after Falmouth’s Noah Nagem was whistled for a five-minute boarding major with 7:07 left in the second period. Forty seconds later, Griffin Wade put the Blue Devils on the board with a shot from the top of the circle through traffic that beat Falmouth goaltender Ryan Bonnvie over his far-side shoulder.
“Undisciplined penalties and turnovers — unpressured turnovers — and when you do that enough any team is going to play with you,” Barton said. “This team here (Lewiston) is a great team. They’re a young team, they have skilled guys who’ve been playing together in youth hockey for a long time and it shows. You let a team like that into the game and they’re going to beat you. We’re lucky we won it.”
With Nagem still in the box, having to serve the full five minutes, the Yachtsmen went down two men when Grade was called for a minor penalty. It was Brendon Croteau who made them pay, tapping in a pass from the right side to the front of the net from Cole Ouellette.
Wade’s second power-play goal of the second period pulled the Blue Devils even with 4:39 remaining.
“We work on it a lot,” Belleau said. “Whether you set up an umbrella or a box-and-one it’s all about puck support, puck movement, anticipation, taking what they give you and not forcing plays We executed it well tonight. We were able to capitalize on it and get ourselves back in the game.”
Lewiston finished 3-for-7 on the power play.
“What worked really well was we were getting pucks to the net,” Lewiston goaltender Nick Hawk said. “That’s what our coach always tells us to do and that’s exactly what we did.”
Falmouth didn’t take a penalty in the third period.
Hawk kept the game squared early in the third, robbing Brandon Peters, who had the first goal of the game, of the go-ahead tally by stretching his stick across the goal line while moving away from his body. It was the second of two highlight reel saves as he made a sprawling stop on a Falmouth player in the first period.
“Just mostly ‘Oh, I hope I get that’ is mostly about it,” Hawk said about making those tough saves. “You don’t want to disappoint your coach because you’re way out of position so you just have to hurry up and get to that side.”
The Yachtsman did eventually find the back of the net in the third as they capitalized off a turnover behind the Blue Devil net. Peters took possession of the puck behind the net and threw a puck in front to Chris Camelio, who spun around and flung a shot under the pads of Hawk to give Falmouth a 4-3 lead with 5:30 left.
“I thought we played well,” Belleau said. “Falmouth’s the two-time defending champion. They’re very talented, they’re big, they’re strong and they’re a handful in our defensive zone. Five-on-five we had some chances and their goalie made some big saves and our goalie made some big saves.”
Grade scored Falmouth’s first power-play goal of the game with 2:36 left with a shot from the point.
The Blue Devils (5-3-1) didn’t go quietly and, although it wasn’t on the power play, they clawed within 5-4 with the extra attacker with 1:50 left after pulling Hawk. Jonathan Sturgis tipped in a shot from the blue line off the stick of Joey Frechette.
Lewiston pulled Hawk again with less than a minute left, but couldn’t net the equalizer.
Falmouth held a 32-28 edge in shots.
Hawk finished with 27 saves.
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