The L/A Nordiques showed their depth Saturday night as they defeated the Skylands Kings for the second straight night.
Seven Nordiques found the back of the net in the 7-2 NA3HL victory.
Lewiston native Sam Frechette led the way with three points — a goal and two assists — as 545 fans at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee saw the Nordiques improve to 16-1 on the season.
Despite being out shot 12-4 to start the game, the Kings were able to get on the board first with their fifth shot of the game when Zakary Sparks broke the deadlock with a goal at the 11:22 mark of the first period. The assists went to Josh Baker and Dylan Dinzik.
The lead didn’t last long as Colby Audette tied the game for the Nordiques at the 13:38 mark of the opening period.
“I was happy we didn’t shut down after the first period,” Nordiques coach Cam Robichaud said. “I had teams in the past where we were in a tight game, they just completely shut down because the night before they won big. So, it was nice to see they didn’t freak out and stuck with the game plan.”
Sergei Anisimov opened the floodgates for the Nordiques in the second period, giving them the lead with 7:27 remaining in the second period. Two-plus minutes later, Zack Mullin found the back of the net.
Anisimov has been a pass-first, shoot-second player during his time with the Nordiques so far.
“Sergei hasn’t scored a lot this year. He’s more of a puck possession guy, he likes to dish it,” Robichaud said. “We have kind of been harping on him to shoot it more, and he finally did.”
Frechette stretched the lead to 4-1 at the 15:04 mark, 24 seconds after getting an assist on Mullen’s goal.
Dylan Saccone cut the Kings’ deficit in half heading into the third period by scoring with 46 seconds remaining in the second.
The Nordiques didn’t let that late goal kill the momentum. Kyle Secor scored 37 seconds into the final frame, and then Josh Malone found the back of the net just past the two-minute mark.
Josh Sanchez, who returned on Friday after missing a month of action with a wrist injury, stretched the lead to 7-2 at the 7:45 mark.
Cole Ouellette and Joe Bisson each collected two assists in the game. Hunter Raye made 21 saves for the victory, while Skylands goalie Josh Sears stopped 48 shots in the loss.
The Nordiques close out a three-game home stand Sunday when they host the New England Stars at 2 p.m.
Bandits 4, Thunder 2
BRIDGEWATER, Mass. — After a tough loss to the first-place New Hampshire Junior Monarchs on Friday night, things didn’t get much easier for the Twin City Thunder on Saturday when they took on the Boston Bandits, the second-place team in the New England division.
The Bandits jumped into a first-place tie with the Monarchs by defeating the Thunder 4-2 at the Bridgewater Ice Arena.
“They are tough competition, no doubt about it,” Thunder coach Doug Friedman said. “I think we came out pretty good, but we finished the (first) period down one. We had a difficult time, we couldn’t maintain any sort of lead throughout the game. We were battling uphill and they were a very opportunistic team. I feel like a few of our mistakes, they capitalized on.”
Cam Manory opened the scoring for the Bandits at the 9:19 mark of the opening period, finishing a feed from Hunter Fortin.
Alex Schneider, who’s just playing in his fifth game for the Thunder after starting the season with the Dauphin Kings of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, notched his first goal in a Thunder uniform 92 seconds into the second period.
“His offense is generally going to come off his speed, his shot and release,” Friedman said. “He has a heavy shot and he’s very fast. His goal is great for him to get on the board, and hopefully he continues to score goals because we need it.”
After the Thunder tied the game, Keagan O’Donoghue and Fortin took over for the Bandits in the second period. Fortin assisted on both of O’Donoghue’s second-period goals. The first came just before the three-minute mark of the middle frame. O’Donoghue’s team-leading ninth goal of the season came at the 10:50 mark on the man advantage.
O’Donoghue finished the game with three points.
The Thunder’s top scorer who cut the deficit to one with 6:41 remaining in the second period: Etienne Crousle found Zachary Desmarais for his 12th goal of the season on the power play.
James Gagan gave Boston some breathing room with 7:46 remaining in the game.
Raphael Provencher made 40 saves in the victory, while Derek Fournier stopped 37 shots in the loss.
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