HOOKSETT -- Allowing a short-handed goal energized the Pinkerton Academy hockey team Wednesday night. At least that's the way it looked.
After Londonderry's Luca Verani opened the scoring with a breakaway goal while the Lancers were down a man with 2:56 remaining in the second period, Pinkerton responded with two goals in the next two minutes and skated to a 4-2 triumph at Delta Dental Arena.
Forwards John Barbarossa and Davids Hibbard each had a goal and an assist for the Astros, who raised their Division I record to 6-1-0. Gavin Burwell and Daniel Richards also scored for Pinkerton.
"Potentially that penalty-kill goal maybe sparked something, but we fought pretty admirably, I would say," Pinkerton coach Jon Chabot said. "So I'm proud of them.
"I think both of us would probably say that these (rivalry) games, the first period -- it's a little sloppy. It's a lot of energy. I thought that we did a better job of establishing our forecheck and playing a little more simply, a little more effective in the second period."
Burwell tied the game on a power-play goal that came 21 seconds after Verani scored, and the Astros took a 2-1 lead when Richards scored from the slot with 55.2 seconds remaining in the second period.
"The response was huge," Chabot said. "After that, we started to believe that our style of play was going to keep us in the game and give us a good chance to win."
Barbarossa put Pinkerton up 3-1 with 6:17 left in the third, but things got dicey for the Astros when Nicholas Bishop made it a one-goal game with 1:06 left. The goal came shortly after the Lancers pulled junior goaltender Justin Doyle (28 saves). Verani collected the only assist on Bishop's goal.
Hibbard finalized the scoring with an empty-net goal with 23.3 seconds on the clock. The loss dropped Londonderry's record to 2-4-2. The Lancers have allowed four goals in each of their four losses.
"We had our moments, but overall we weren't hard enough to play against," Londonderry coach Mike Bears said. "We made it too easy to play against. Didn't get in hard enough on the forecheck. We didn't do a good job of taking care of the puck in our zone taking it out.
"The effort was good. It was just that next gear of making hard enough plays that are ultimately the difference in close games. We're not a flashy team. If we're going to win games, we need to outwork teams for three periods."
Concord (6-0) and Trinity (5-0) are the only teams ahead of Pinkerton in the Division I standings. Pinkerton's next game is at Concord on Jan. 24.
Pinkerton goalie Tanner Moody recorded 22 saves during the win. He said Londonderry’s short-handed goal caused his team to refocus and play with more determination.
“I think it definitely made us lock in because you’re never expecting the other team to score when you’re on a power play,” he said. “So I think it helped us lock in and do better.
“I think we have a team that works hard and takes pride in the way we play. We have a lot of grit. We try hard, work hard. That helps us win games.”