LEWISTON — The L/A Nordiques shot the puck, shot the puck and shot the puck some more, firing 70 shots on the Maine Wild’s goaltenders in a 11-4 victory at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Wednesday evening.
The victory is the Nordiques’ second in a week over the Wild. The instate rivals play for a third time in a row next Wednesday in Biddeford.
The line of Valeri Rykov, Sergei Anisimov and Colby Audette carried L/A, as each player scored twice.
“We had some lines working together, our Russian line with Colby Audette, Valeri Rykov and Sergei Anisimov are playing really well together,” Nordiques coach Cam Robicaud said. “That’s exciting.”
Joe Bisson also scored two goals for L/A.
Andrew McCormick opened the scoring just past the four-minute mark of the opening period and Anisimov made it 2-0 at the 7:35 mark. Crewz Berry picked up his 15th goal of the season nearly two minutes later.
Valeri Rykov, who extended his six-game point streak earlier with an assist on Anisimov’s goal, made it 4-0 with 7:48 remaining in the opening frame. He added a second assist on Colby Audette’s 34th goal of the season on the power play with 28 seconds remaining in the first.
Donovan Tehan and Bisson stretched the lead to 7-0 early in the second period.
The Wild found their bearings in the second stanza when Kadin Mason scored 11:25 into the period and Reagan Wintle found the back of the net a few minutes later. Both Wild goals came on power plays.
“They are pretty good about getting rebounds and goals tight, down low on the power play,” Robichaud said. “Both were 5-on-3. The difference was our penalties weren’t undisciplined, selfish penalties. So I can stomach that as opposed to last week (against the Wild) where took some in a crucial time — selfish and undisciplined.”
The Wild were 2-for-4 with the man advantage, while the Nordiques were 1-for-2.
Anisimov added his second goal of the game with 5:10 remaining in the second.
Chandler Bilodeau answered for the Wild later in the middle frame.
Bisson and Audette, Rykov each added their second goals of the game in the third period for the Nordiques.
Chandler Bilodeau also scored his second of the game for the Wild.
Hunter Raye 23 saves in the victory, while Tom Spero and Ben Feldman combined to make 59 saves in the losing effort.
Islanders 3, Thunder 2, SO
TYNGSBOROUTH, Mass. — Declan O’Neil was the only player to score a shootout goal, giving the Islanders Hockey Club a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over the Twin City Thunder on Wednesday afternoon.
Aleksi Petrow, Jeromey Rancourt and Zachary Desmarais all missed on their opportunities for the Thunder in the shootout.
“The goal we gave up was a real nice move by (O’Neil), a real patient move when he came down and slipped it five-hole,” Thunder coach Doug Friedman said. “Our guys had some good looks, but we couldn’t find the back of the net. It was a tough decision as to who to put out for the shootout. That was our first shootout of the year, too.”
The Thunder had a strong second period, scoring twice in a two-minute span to take a 2-0 lead. Nicolas Garneau scored at the 3:58 mark off a feed from Bobby Gervasi. Matt Jolicoeur, who hadn’t scored since Nov. 15, notched his second goal of the season at the 5:58 mark, set up by Matt Hanlon and Rease Hubert.
“I think the second period, we turned (our effort) on a little bit more and I think that was the difference, especially with those two goals,” Friedman said. “Both goals were basic plays, getting pucks to the net, winning net front battles and digging down to get some rebounds.”
Islanders HC fought back in the back half of the period. First, Jared Lamothe scored at the 6:02 mark. Then, with less than two minutes remaining in the period, Twin City’s Zachary Simpson was called for hitting from behind. The Islanders capitalized on the power play when Jonathan Courchesne found the back of the net for the game tying goal with five seconds remaining in the period.
Despite giving up back-to-back goals, Friedman thought his team played well.
“At the end of the day, we are pleased with the effort we had,” Friedman said. “We battled them close and the goals we gave up were a power play goal with not a lot of time left in the period, that was a tough one in terms of momentum. We came out and started well in the third, it was a good game and a fun game to watch.”
Trey Petersen made 30 saves for the victory, while Derek Fournier made 28 saves.
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