Maine’s Anthony Achille scored with 1:55 remaining in overtime to give the visiting Nordiques a 6 – 5 win over the Titans last night to split the weekend series between the teams.
The loss snapped the Titans seven game win streak
Marcus Sang opened the scoring at 2:54 into the contest. After Ryan Novo took a shot from the far side point that was blocked out front, the rebound came out to Eric Charpentier in the slot. Charpentier took a wrister that was blocked by Maine’s netminder Thomas Heaney who then had to make a successive save on Ethan Wongus but Wongus’ rebound came right out to Sang in the goal mouth and the Skillman, NJ native banged the rebound into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.
Maine then scored two goals within two and a half minutes of each other beginning with Achille’s first goal of the game at 8:49 of the opening period when he backhanded a rebound up and over a prone Zak Brice to knot the score at one.
The Nordiques took their first lead of the game at 10:22 of the period when Henrik Hallberg stripped Brian Robertson off the puck in the slot and then slid the puck through Brice’s five hole for Hallberg’s tenth goal of the season.
The Titans then score two consecutive goals of their own beginning at just twenty-three seconds into the middle stanza.
Brendan Dumas picked up the loose puck out of a scrum at the Nordiques far side corner and passed the biscuit up along the boards to Ben Muthersbaugh. As Muthersbaugh went to the faceoff dot, he sent a pass back to Charpentier at the top of the slot, and the Dartmouth commit took a wrist shot that beat Heaney low, long side to tie the game at two. It was Charpentier’s first goal of the game.
At 5:22 into the second period the Titans regained the lead on Anthony Calafiore’s tenth goal of the season. Joe Harney picked up the loose puck at the top of his own blueline and passed it up to Calafiore on his right. As Calafiore gained the line on a three-on-one, the team captain took a wrist shot from the far side faceoff dot that beat Heaney, high glove side to make it a 3 – 2 game.
Two minutes after the Titans took the lead, the Nordiques scored their second pair of consecutive goals beginning at 7:27 of the period when Patrick Schmiedlin took a wrist shot from the far side faceoff dot that hit off the far side post and went into the net past Brice to tie the contest at three.
At 9:23 of the middle stanza, Maine’s Brendan Gibbons scored on a turnover in the Titans slot and took a wrist shot that beat Brice high glove side to give the Nordiques a 4 – 3 game.
True to form and the way the game was playing out, the Titans again scored two consecutive goals. Twenty seconds after Maine took the lead, Charpentier scored his second of the game to even the score at four. Michael Young brought the puck up along the near side boards and passed it to Levente Keresztes at center ice. As soon as Keresztes gained the line, he passed the biscuit to Charpentier on his right. The Silver Spring, MD native immediately took a simple wrist shot from the point and beat Heaney high glove side for Charpentier’s fourth goal of the season.
Keresztes gave the Titans their final lead of the night with 4:20 left in the second. After an inadvertent Maine clearly pass that went off the linesman’s hand at far side center ice, Tyler Sanborn picked up the loose biscuit and passed it up to Dominik Bartecko just outside the offensive zone. As Bartecko gained the line on a three-on-two, he made a centering pass from the faceoff dot to Keresztes in the slot and Keresztes redirected the puck past Heaney for Levente’s eighth goal of the season.
With 7:39 remaining in the game, Maine’s Filip Wiberg scored a powerplay goal off a deflection out front to even the score at five.
The Titans entered the overtime period on a powerplay after Maine was assessed a bench minor (too many men on the ice) at the of regulation but they couldn’t convert on it. After Heaney made a save on Ryan Novo, the puck went into the corner where it was picked up by Achille. As Achille skated down the far side boards and entered the offensive zone on a two-on-one, he took a wrist shot from the faceoff dot that beat Brice long side to win the game.
Brice stopped 36 of 42 shots while Heaney turned aside 37 of 42. Click here for the complete box score.
The Titans look to bounce back on Tuesday night when they host the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks at 7:00PM on $5 ticket night.