The visiting Danbury Hat Tricks responded in emphatic fashion Saturday night, erasing a first-period deficit and rolling to a 5–1 win over the Maine Nordiques to split the weekend series. The victory marked Danbury’s 24th of the season — the most wins in franchise history.
Much like Friday’s contest, Maine struck late in the opening period. Henry Butte found the back of the net with 1:12 remaining in the first to give the Nordiques a 1–0 edge heading into intermission.
From there, it was all Danbury.
Brendan Boring pulled the Hat Tricks even 9:15 into the second period. With Ben Dempster battling behind the Maine net, he slipped a centering feed out front to Boring, who fired a one-timer past Lukas Fursten to tie the game at one.
Less than two minutes later, Ludovik Gauvin gave Danbury its first lead of the weekend. After Peter Freel’s initial shot was turned aside, he tracked down the rebound in the corner and sent a pass through the slot to Gauvin, who redirected it home for his eighth goal of the season — the most by a Hat Tricks defenseman this year.
With 2:19 remaining in the middle stanza and a Maine roughing penalty to Joe Gasperko expiring, Ryan Lukko floated a shot through traffic that slipped past Fursten to extend the lead to 3–1.
Danbury wasted no time adding insurance in the third. Just 35 seconds into the frame, Dempster buried a power-play goal to push the advantage to 4–1. Boring later struck for his second of the night midway through the period to cap the scoring at 5–1.
Goaltender Jon Dukaric bounced back with a strong performance, stopping 24 of 25 shots in the win. Fursten made 31 saves on 36 shots for Maine. Matt Dabrowski, Tanner Terranova and Freel each recorded two assists. Click HERE for the complete box score.
The Hat Tricks now hit the road again next weekend for a two-game set in Johnstown against the Tomahawks, carrying momentum from a milestone victory that continues to add to a historic season.