Takeaways From Wednesday Action In The ECHL

The ECHL schedule featured six games on Wednesday night that included a last-second hat trick, the end of a long losing streak and several teams who climbed up in the standings. Here are four takeaways from the action.

A Last-Second Hatty

Some things are worth waiting for, like a hat trick.

It took until the final seconds, but Filip Fornaa Svensson got his hatty to power the Norfolk Admirals to a 6-2 win over the Adirondack Thunder in Glens Falls.

It was a great way for the Admirals to end a four-game road trip. Along with Fornaa Svensson’s three goals, Brady Fleurent chipped in with two of his own.

Norfolk scored three times in the opening frame, with Fleurent getting things started for his 17^th of the season and his 50^th point.

Just over three minutes later, Fornaa Svensson potted his 13^th of the season off a beautiful feed from Brandon Osmundson for a 2-0 Admirals lead.

Fornaa Svensson added his second goal two minutes after that on a shot from the right-wing point to increase the lead to 3-0.

Fleurent made the score 4-0 in the second period on a power-play. The Admirals lead the ECHL in power-play percentage on the road, converting 17-for-60 (28.3%).

With Norfolk leading 5-2 late in the third period, Fornaa Svensson netted his hat trick off a Jaden Shields feed.

Allen Snaps Losing Skid

At long last, the Allen Americans picked up a victory, edging the Rapid City Rush 3-2 at Credit Union of Texas Event Center in Allen.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Americans, who move their record to 11-21-7-1 on the season; Rapid City drops to 12-21-4-3.

Spencer Asuchak led the way for the Americans, scoring a goal and adding an assist. He picked up his 28th and 29th points in the victory.

Allen never led until late in the second period, when Hudson Wilson found the back of the net for his second goal of the season at 19:26 to give Allen a 3-2 lead after two periods.

The Rush outshot Allen 40-20 over the final two frames, but Dylan Wells had his best night between the pipes, stopping 44 of 46 Rapid City shots. He earned his team-leading fifth win of the season, improving to 5-3-0-1.

The win puts Allen in a tie with the Utah Grizzlies; each team has 30 points in the Mountain Division. Utah still has a game in hand on the Americans, who climbed to within one point of sixth place Rapid City.

Mavericks Move Into First

Another team climbed the standings Wednesday, as the Kansas City Mavericks secured a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Tahoe Knight Monsters at Cable Dahmer Arena.

A combination of strong goaltending and timely scoring propelled the Mavericks to their second consecutive win, which moved them into first place in the Mountain Division.

Both teams exchanged tallies in the opening period. Tahoe opened the scoring at 8:48 of the first period with a goal from Anthony Cholach.

The Mavericks quickly responded at 7:38, as Landon McCallum tied the game with his 10th goal of the season, assisted by Jackson Berezowski and David Cotton.

Kansas City took the lead for good at 8:20 of the middle frame when McCallum struck again, recording his 11th goal of the season with helpers from Marcus Crawford and Jack LaFontaine.

LaFontaine made several key stops in the third period, saving 27 of 28 for the game to earn the win. His performance marked another highlight in the Mavericks' recent stretch of solid goaltending.

Berezowski achieved a personal milestone by playing in his 100th professional game, adding an assist to contribute to the win.

Lions Overtake Nailers For First Place

With a 4-1 victory over the Maine Mariners at Colisee Videotron, the Trois-Rivieres Lions have overtaken the Wheeling Nailers for first place in the North Division.

The Lions are now 5-0-1 in six games against Maine this season. It took until the final two minutes of the opening period for either team to score.

After an extended shift in the offensive zone, the Lions struck first at 18:12. Justin Ducharme's shot from around the top of the left circle leaked its way through Nolan Maier for the 1-0 Lions lead, which they carried into the first intermission.

Early in the second, Trois-Rivieres doubled the lead when Anthony Beauchamp chopped in a rebound at 1:56 following Tommy Cormier's initial shot off the goal post. The Lions made it 3-0 at 11:24 of the period as Isaac Dufort crashed the net and finished a feed from Anthony Beauregard.

Kalmikov got the Mariners on the board at 8:13 of the third when he was set up by Tristan Thompson from the right wing. The Mariners couldn't close the gap further, and Vincent Sevigny's power-play goal at 14:33 put the game away.

Nolan Maier stopped 20 of 24 while Luke Cavallin made 18 saves to earn the victory.

The two teams will get together twice more in Trois-rivieres Friday and Saturday.