AUBURN – The Johnstown Tomahawks (13-11-4) defeated the Maine Nordiques (18-8-2) by a final score of 4-2 in Auburn, Maine on Friday, December 12th. The Tomahawks were backstopped by rookie goaltender Nikita Oleksiienko who was making his 6th start of the season and 1st in nearly a month. Tomahawks captain Nick Jarmain and linemate Emerson Marshall each recorded multi-point nights. The Nordiques got goals from Rylan Oster and Austin Borggaard.
Friday night’s action got underway from Maine, and for the third straight game, the Tomahawks were awarded an early power play within the opening two minutes. While the Nordiques’ trend of early penalties continued, Johnstown was unable to capitalize, coming up empty on yet another golden opportunity to open a contest — an extremely frustrating theme for a team that has been searching for offense. The first period was played at a pretty strong pace, with the game feeling more open compared to the tight, defensive battles seen in the first four meetings over the last two months. That pace paid off for the Tomahawks with 6:30 remaining in the period, as Sean Leetch opened the scoring by redirecting a hard feed from Nick Jarmain past the goaltender to give Johnstown the much desired 1–0 lead. Leetch has found a scoring touch lately, netting his second goal in three games over back-to-back weekends. Playing with an early lead isn’t something the Tomahawks have seen often this season, but they handled it well in the opening frame. Maine earned its first power play late in the period after Conor Griffin was whistled for holding with just under three minutes remaining, but the Tomahawks’ penalty kill stood tall. Rookie goaltender Nikita Oleksiienko was making his 6th career start and continued his strong play in his first start in nearly a month. As the clock dipped under a minute, both teams were assessed roughing minors, setting up four-on-four play through the final seconds of the period. After 20 minutes, the Tomahawks held the 1–0 lead and a 9–6 edge in shots.
The East Division’s second-place Nordiques were expected to come out with a spark in the second period after somewhat of a disappointing opening frame, but it was the Tomahawks who continued to dictate the pace. Keeping their foot on the gas, Johnstown forced Maine into another early penalty — and this time, they made it count as Nick Metelkin broke through on the power play with a highlight-reel goal, pulling off a spin-o-rama at the blue line, freezing a defender who hit the ice, and walking into the slot before snapping a shot past the goaltender to give the Tomahawks a 2–0 lead. The excitement only ramped up from there. Just seconds later, a dumped puck behind the Tomahawks’ net resulted in a Nordiques player colliding with Nikita Oleksiienko, sparking a scrum. What initially looked like to be another Johnstown power play was offset after Conor Griffin stepped in to defend his netminder, sending the teams to four-on-four just five minutes into the period. The high-paced, end-to-end action continued over the next several minutes, highlighted by another set of matching minors that once again created four-on-four play. Just as the 8-man game was coming to an end, the Tomahawks were called for interference, giving Maine a brief 4-on-3 advantage. Ten seconds after the penalty shifted to a standard 5-on-4, the Nordiques capitalized, as a deep wrist shot found its way past Oleksiienko to get Maine on the board and make it a 2–1 game. The momentum swing didn’t last long though as just 1:43 later, Tomahawks defenseman Kalib Capecci jumped into the rush and buried his fifth goal of the season to restore the two-goal cushion. Emerson Marshall picked up his second assist of the night on the play. Once again, the Nordiques answered. With just under five minutes remaining, Sean Morgan was sent off for roughing, and a minute into the ensuing power play, Maine struck to cut the deficit to 3–2 and set the stage for a nail-biting final period. Despite holding the one-goal lead after two periods, the Nordiques carried much of the play in the second, outshooting the Tomahawks 14–9 in the frame and took a 20–18 edge in shots on goal through 40 minutes.
The chaos of the second period didn’t quite carry over into the third, as the final frame was played at a much more controlled pace and featured no penalties from either side — a rarity for a Johnstown Tomahawks game this season. As the clock began to work against them trailing by one, the Nordiques threw everything they had toward the Tomahawks’ net, testing goaltender Nikita Oleksiienko shift after shift. The 17-year-old rookie was up to the challenge, turning aside every chance to preserve Johnstown’s slim lead as the tension continued to build. Oleksiienko, along with the Tomahawks’ entire backend, deserves significant credit for shutting things down in the third and throughout the majority of the night. That defensive effort was rewarded late, as newest addition to the Hawks lineup William Stewart sealed the game with a 160-foot empty-net goal from his own end, extending the Tomahawks’ lead to 4–2 with just over a minute remaining.The Tomahawks closed out a hard-fought 4–2 victory, despite being outshot 28–26 in the contest.
Your Johnstown Tomahawks will look to start a win streak against the same Nordiques team tomorrow night at Norway Savings Bank Arena for the regular season finale against Maine. Action will begin at 7:00PM. Catch all of the action on NAHLTV and follow our social media accounts @tomahawkshockey to keep in the loop. Get your tickets for the next home stand https://www.ticketmaster.com/johnstown-tomahawks-tickets/artist/1760594.
BY: DREW P. PFEIL