DANBURY, CT – The Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (12-39-3-0, 27 pts) scored three goals in a span of 3:31 during the second period to defeat the Maine Nordiques (19-25-5-5, 48 pts) 6-3 on Saturday.
Danbury opened the scoring with two power-play goals from Robert Hyde (10) and Andrew Eberling (7). Hyde’s came with 7:29 left in the first period from Ryan Johnson and Peter Lychnikoff, who recorded three assists in the win.
Eberling scored 1:13 into the second period while skating in his 100th career NAHL game. All 100 have come with the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks. Eberling was joined by Hunter McCurdy, who played his 150th career NAHL game on Saturday. Head coach Billy McCreary had high praise for both players.
“There’s really no words that can describe both of those young men,” McCreary said. “Those two guys have been instrumental to the culture that we are building here.”
After Eberling’s goal, Maine scored twice in 3:18 to tie the game at two just after the midway point of the second.
Danbury responded with three goals in 3:31 from Luka Sukovic (9), Boris Skalos (13) and Hyde’s (11) second of the game.
“To show the maturity that we did and continue to grind away and start achieving success, it was good to see,” said McCreary. “We definitely took a step in the right direction.”
In the third, Maine added one more goal, but Danbury held on late. Richard Davis scored his third of the year into an empty net after goaltender Adam Johnson made multiple big saves.
In his first game-action since Feb. 11, Johnson made 45 saves and recorded his third win of the season. Eighteen of those saves came in the third period, his busiest frame of the afternoon.
Danbury is back in action on Wednesday night on the road against the New Jersey Titans.