Nordiques goaltender Jason St. Pierre keeps an eye on his rebound as Avery Matthews of the Sharks looks for another shot during second period action in Lewiston on Saturday. (Ron Morin photo)
LEWISTON — It was just a matter of time for the L/A Nordiques.
They had a 24-7 shot advantage after one period but weren’t leading where it counted, the scoreboard. Then the offense came alive in the second period with five unanswered goals en route to a 11-6 victory Saturday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Colby Audet had a hat trick and three assists, while Cole Ouellette had a goal and four assists.
“I think, just getting shots the net, I hit two crossbars and the goalie’s knob of his stick in the first period,” Audet said. “It fired me up to score some goals.”
The Nordiques started bast, firing five shots in the first two minutes of the game. Their sixth shot gave them a 1-0 lead when Nicolas Lusignan and Josh Malone set Zach Mullin up at the 2:07 mark.
L/A continued to put pressure on Sharks goalie Ryan Cortez for the first 10 minutes of the contest but couldn’t get another shot past him in the period.
The second half the opening period belonged to the Sharks. Cade Lambdin tied the game when he put a shot on Nordiques goalie Jason St. Pierre. The Jay native appeared to make the save, but fell into his net and the puck crossed the goal line at the 12:36 mark.
With 3:20 remaining, Noah Carlock setup Dixon Root to give Long Beach a 2-1 lead.
“We were a little bit snake-bitten, so I wanted to tell the guys to relax and compose themselves, continue to play our game,” Nordiques assistant coach Eric Michaud said of his first intermission talk with the team. “The goalie was hot in the first period, I wanted to relay (that) if we stick to the game plan we will pop them in.”
Head coach Cam Robichaud was not a the game because he had a previous commitment.
Lambdin stretched the lead to 3-1 at the 2:34 mark of the second period. Teddy Valenti was given credit for the assist.
Then the Nordiques’ offense finally got going. Colby Audet scored his first of the period to cut the deficit to 3-2, with Andrew McCormick and Donovan Tehan setting up the goal, at the 8:35 into the second.
Nearly three minutes later, at the 10:29 mark, after John McCann missed a half open net for the Sharks, the Nordiques struck. Frechette broke in past the Sharks’ defense on a breakaway and tied the game up a 3-3. Ouellette had the assist.
“Ten minutes of penalties, half the period, is not good. You are going to give up a lot of chances and a lot of shots,” Sharks coach Bobby Davis said. “They capitalized, they move the puck along well and they have a very good (defensive) core. They can fire the puck and made some plays in the third.”
Ouellette set up the go-ahead goal 32 seconds later, as Malone picked up the rebound of Ouellette’s shot at the crease. JP Chauvin had the secondary assist of the goal.
“We were all fired up that we were down,” Ouellette said. “It just came to all of us that we need to pick up our play. Luckily, we got some good bounces.”
Joe Bisson made it 5-3 Nordiques with 4:06 remaining in the second period, finishing off a Kyle Secor pass as he came streaking into the slot. Audet had an assist on the play.]
Cortez went to the bench after the goal due to what looked like equipment issues, and Darren Nathan entered the game.
Nathan only lasted one shot. Audet stretched the lead to 6-3 scoring nine seconds after Bisson’s goal. Secor and JP Chauvin had the assists.
Lambdin completed the hat trick on a power play just before the second-period buzzer sounded. Assists went to Ryan Gridley and Dino Mukovoz.
Things got chippy in the third, as Gridley was given a game misconduct and a five-minute major for taking off the facemask of Frechette. Both players received two-minute minors for roughing. Kyle Secor and Lambdin were given the gate for fighting.
“We didn’t keep our composure,” Davis said. “We needed to be 5-on-5 for a big portion of that period because towards the end of the second we were spending a lot of time in their zone with quality chances. When you go down on the penalty kill you are just playing defense.”
L/A scored on the five-minute major as Ouellette was left all alone at the left circle, and he ripped shot that was tipped in by Audet.
The Nordiques scored again on another five-minute major as Valenti got called for slashing. Tehan scored on the ensuing power play, with Audet picking up the assist.
The five-minute major became abbreviated as Tehan went off for interference. While the teams skated 4-on-4, Lusignan scored for the Nordiques and Mukovoz scored for the Sharks.
Once Tehan’s minor was over, the Nordiques still had time remaining on the five-minute major power play, and Ouellette scored the team’s third power-play goal of the evening.
Armand O’Keefe of the Nordiques attempts to tip a shot past Sharks goaltender Ryan Cortez as he battles with Richard Frosch. (Ron Morin photo)Avery Matthews of Long Beach attempts to get past Joe Bisson and Andrew McCormick of the Nordiques during first-period action Saturday at the Androscoggin Back Colisee. (Ron Morin photo)
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