Originally published on theaihl.com

The Newcastle Northstars have taken a vital three points towards their 2018 AIHL Finals campaign, with a come from behind 6-4 victory over the KODIAK Melbourne Mustangs at the O’Brien Group Arena on Saturday night.

It was a crucial win for Newcastle in the context of their season, who piled on 4 goals in the third period to keep themselves in the mix for the top 4.

The Mustangs started the stronger of the two teams and opened the scoring through Andrew Erzen. Troy Robertson picked up the puck at the half wall and threw a backhand pass across to Erzen, who slotted it past Dayne Davis to make it 1-0. It was Erzen’s 2^nd goal of the season.

Richie Tesarik answered for Newcastle 4 minutes later, when he tipped an innocuous wrist shot on net from Rob Malloy which Toivonen got most of but not all of, and it was a 1-1 hockey game.

Both sides battled hard for the remainder of the period but were unable to add to the score with both Toivonen and Davis making several fine saves.

It was 1-1 heading into the intermission with the shot count 11-5 in favour of the Mustangs.

Jamie Bourke added to the Mustangs tally when he took a pass from a sprawling Mitch Humphries and buried the biscuit past Davis in the high slot, giving the Mustangs a 2-1 lead with 9:28 to play in the 2nd. The Mustangs had the momentum and the majority of the play, with Toivonen consistently frustrating the Northstars attack.

Enter Zane Jones.

After Richie Tesarik got the gate for tripping, the Northstars forced the puck out of the zone on the ensuing face-off. Jones out skated Ben Davies to the loose puck at centre ice and broke in on Toivonen, going high on the glove side and making it 2-2 with 3:18 to play in the 2^nd.

The Mustangs would answer through Mitch Humphries’ 7^th goal of the season to make it 3-2 at the 2^nd intermission, however, the North Stars had been given a sniff heading into the third.

Richie Tesarik drew the Northstars level with his 7^th goal of the season 3:24 into the final frame when he was left unattended in the high slot. Jones then grabbed his second goal of the game 18 seconds later, after a Matthew Lindsay stretch pass found Jones in behind the Mustangs’ defence on a breakaway, to give the North Stars the lead for the first time and it was suddenly a 4-3 game.

It got worse for the Mustangs as Troy Robertson was ejected for a check to the head of Hamish Powell which left the Northstars with a three minute 5 on 4 advantage however, the Mustangs penalty kill held on.

Davis made several acrobatic stops to keep the Northstars in the game, including a spectacular glove save on Davies to keep him off the score sheet with 6:34 to play.

Bourke answered the call and drew the Mustangs level with his second goal of the season with just under 5 minutes remaining to make it 4-4. A penalty to Davis with three minutes to go looked a gift to the Mustangs, as they went in search of the game winning goal.

However, it was the Northstars who would get it.

Malloy cleared the puck out of his own end forcing Toivonen out of his net to retrieve the puck. Incoming forecheck pressure from Jones forced Toivonen into a desperate clearing attempt, which was stolen by Jones and put in the net for the go-ahead goal with 1:09 to play in regulation. That brought up the hat-trick for Jones and his second short-handed goal for the game.

Joe Harcharik added an insurance empty-net goal as time expired in the game and the Northstars skated away with the three points.

The Mustangs finished the evening 0 for 4 on the power play while Newcastle went 0 for 2, although they scored two short-handed goals to bring their season tally to 7.

Davis saved 35 of 39 shots in the win, while Toivonen went 18 from 23 in the loss.

The Mustangs now have 25 points in 6th place with 7 games remaining and will face the Adelaide Adrenaline at home on 4^th August.