Down and out?
Not quite.
Trailing 3-2 entering the third period – and, truth be told, looking a bit lethargic – the Fredericton Red Wings flipped a switch, exploding for seven unanswered goals and setting two franchise records in the process with a 9-3 rout of the Miramichi Timberwolves in Maritime Hockey League play.
The Red Wings set a record for goals scored in a game and also had two players – Declan MacEachern and Noah Cauchi – post hat tricks in the same outing. Cauchi, in fact, scored all three of his goals in the third period just over eight minutes apart,
Newly-acquired Aaron Brown, Eliot Bergbauer and newly-minted captain Ryan O’Toole scored the other goals for Fredericton.
Jared Cosman, Riley Burtt and Logan Carruthers had two assists apiece for the Red Wings.
Marc-Antoine Couture, playing his first game with Brown following a trade with Edmundston Blizzard early in the week, was solid on the blueline.
Jack Grant made 24 saves for the win in goal.
Fredericton fired 38 shots at Timberwolves’ starter Ben Gibbon, who was chased in the third period in favour of Olivier Charbonneau.
Kennedy Gallant, Jason Imbeault and Charles-Andrew Cypihot tallied for Miramichi.
Miramichi handled all the offence in the second period, wiping out a deficit in the process with two goals and looked good entering the third before the third collapsed.
Down 2-1, Imbeault got things rolling with his 29th off the season, snapping home a rebound during a powerplay just 38 ticks into the frame.
The Red Wings then were caught napping on a delayed penalty against them as Cypihot was left all alone in the slot area, taking a pass from Matthew Briggs and snapping one home at 4:09.
There was a flurry of offensive activity at the end of the first period and Miramichi kept the scoreboard operator busy early in the second frame, taking a 3-2 lead into third.
MacEachern had opened the scoring, his sixth of the season, before Miramichi grabbed a gift goal, Connor MacGregor intercepting Grant’s clearing pass behind the goal and dishing out front to Kennedy, all alone, for the tap-in.
That came with 50 seconds left in the frame before Fredericton responded when Brown introduced himself offensively, banking in a pass off a Timberwolves’ defender for a 2-1 lead.