The Maine Nordiques left Connecticut with a sweep of the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks.
Behind forward Jake Bernadet’s two goals, Maine erased a first-period deficit for a 4-2 victory in an NAHL East Division contest at Danbury Ice Arena on Saturday night.
The Nordiques were once again playing shorthanded, as they did during Friday night’s 5-1 win at Danbury, and only had 10 forwards dressed Saturday.
“We were down 2-0 pretty quickly, and we are very shorthanded right now,” Maine coach Nick Skerlick said. “We only had 10 forwards playing, and we had some (defensemen) playing forward.”
Maine scored two goals in a 48-second span in the second period. Bernadet got Maine on the board, while defenseman Nick Bernardo tied the game.
“It was funny, me and (assistant coach Ryan) Shelley were walking back from the coffee shop before the game and I said, ‘Shelley, we score a lot of goals, but we don’t score quick enough. We score one, and it takes four, five, six minutes for another one,'” Skerlick said. “Tonight, we score twice under a minute to tie the game. It was awesome.”
In the third period, Skerlick said Kellen Murphy or Charles Tardif scored the eventual game-winning goal, but the team will look at the video to see who got it.
Bernadet added the insurance tally.
The Nordiques have 68 goals on the season, which leads the entire NAHL.
“We have the best offense in the league,” Skerlick said. “If anybody wants to challenge us on the best offense, I’d love to take that challenge.”
Marius Angelin and Hayden Stocks had the first-period tallies for Danbury. Former Maine Nordiques forward Grant Dietz, who got traded this weekend to Danbury, had an assist in the loss.
Maine received a 2025 tender in return for Dietz.
The Nordiques are on the road Friday and Saturday against the Philadelphia Rebels. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.
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