After rallying to beat Northeast, the Fighting Spirit didn’t reach home until Saturday morning. Most players didn’t hit the pillow until around 4 a.m.
But the Fighting Spirit certainly didn’t look road weary or rusty by game time Saturday.
L/A scored two quick goals and never looked back in a convincing 10-2 win over the Maine Wild at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“We got to sleep in quite a bit,” forward Brett Bittner said. “Then we came to the rink, ate and stretched and stuff. That helped a lot. Thank God it was a late game.”
Bittner had three goals and three assists to lead the Fighting Spirit to their fourth straight win. Bittner’s linemates fared pretty well, also. Colby Siering had two goals and two assists while Dylan Vrees had a goal and three assists. That line has been together for just three games.
“We’ve just started playing together,” Bittner said. “We’re finally starting to get some chemistry going. It really shows. It’s nice to be able to deliver.”
L/A outshot the Wild 34-15. Though goalie Claes Endre only needed to make 13 saves, he was solid in net and made some key stops in the second period when Maine was able to produce pressure on the power play.
“I can’t say we played 60 minutes, but I think we played 55 out of 60 minutes,”Fighting Spirit coach Rod Simmons said. “At this point, I accept that.”
L/A also had a good night on the power play. The Fighting Spirit got power play goals from Walker Hamilton, Vrees, Siering and Alexander Friend, finishing the game 4-for-6 on the man advantage.
“We’ve made some adjustments there, and I see that being able to help,” said Simmons, whose team also blanked Maine on three power plays.
L/A scored just 34 seconds into the game. Hamilton put a shot towards the net. It hit some traffic in front before Simon-Richard Corriveau put it home. Then at 2:08, Siering fed Bittner with a pass. He split two defenders for an open look at the net and a 2-0 lead.
“We set the tone early,” Simmons said. “We were up 3-0 and they pulled the (goaltender).”
The Fighting Spirit poured it on from there, outshooting the Wild 16-4 in the first. Laim McGrath made it 3-0 at 8:21, netting his second goal in three games. Siering and Hamilton completed the scoring in the first to give the Fighting Spirit a comfortable 5-0 lead. Hamilton’s goal came on the power play.
“When you come off against a hot goaltender and come in and continue to put goals in, it keep your confidence level up for scoring,” Simmons said. “That has to happen when you hit a hot goaltender. There’s some good goaltending in our league. When we get that, our guys have to know that they can still finish when they need to.”
L/A outshot Northeast 56-14 Friday night but was down 2-1 entering the third. The Fighting Spirit scored three times for the 4-2 win.
Bittner made it 6-0 at 7:10 of the second, cutting in front to tuck it home. Then Vrees scored on the power play with 3:02 left in the period.
The Vrees goal came just after a Maine two-man advantage. The Wild produced five shots during that stretch, but Endre made a pair of nice saves to stymie the Wild.
Maine didn’t get on the board until 2:30 of the final period. Cooper O’Brien batted in a loose puck. Bittner answered that with a wrister at 3:25. The Fighting Spirit added another power play goal from Siering with 10:16 left. Maine got one from Sedrick Simons with 5:54 remaining, but Friend scored on the power play with 2:33 left to complete the scoring.
“We find ourselves more disciplined and more focused and healthy,” Simmons said. “So we hope to continue that down the stretch. We’ve made three key additions up front that gives us some depth — Clay Janowiak, Joseph Mooney and McGrath. I think they will help us down the stretch. I like to play four lines, and I think we have a lot of depth there now.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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