Adam Pardy has scored two goals in a single season three times in the last decade.
Tuesday night at Mile One Centre, the 34-year-old defenceman from Bonavista managed to do that in one period.
In fact, in less than five minutes.
Pardy registered goals 4:23 apart in the middle frame and added an assist to lead the Newfoundland Growlers to an 8-4 win over the Maine Mariners at Mile One Centre in a matchup of ECHL expansion teams.
Prior to signing on with the Growlers, Pardy had only a total of eight goals in his previous 10 professional seasons. That included three with the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals in 2016-17, two with the AHL’s Rochester Americans in 2012-13 and two with the NHL’s Calgary Flames in 2009-10.
But on Tuesday, he was the Growlers’ Erik Karlsson in a game that featured seven goals in the second period, including four straight by Newfoundland.
After Pardy’s brace, St. John’s native Marcus Power and fellow rearguard Alex Gudbranson also scored to give the home side a 6-2 lead.
But the visiting Mariners did not wilt and go away.
Tyler Ronning, the son of former NHLer Cliff Ronning, got a goal for Maine exactly a minute after Gudbranson’s marker. Then, the Mariners’ Drew Melanson brought the visitors even closer with a buzzing-beating power-play marker with less than a second remaining in the frame.
The third period didn’t feature nearly as much scoring — just Scott Pooley’s empty-netter with two-and-a-half minutes left in the game and a power-play goal from the Growlers’ Brady Ferguson a little later — but the excitement level was still pretty high, what with the Mariners pulling former NHL netminder Hannu Toivonen for an extra attacker with more than seven minutes left in the contest.
Josh Kestner had a goal and three assists as Newfoundland (22-11-1) set a single-game high for goals in the franchise’s young history, while Derian Plouffe had the Growlers’ other marker.
Ferguson added two assists in his first game back after missing 10 games with an injury.
Jason Salvaggio and Terrence Wallin also scored for Maine (19-13-1), which will look to get even in a rematch today (7 p.m.) at Mile One.
Call-ups to the AHL mean Toivonen, who faced 32 shots, is the only contracted goalie the Mariners brought with them to St. John’s. That led to A.J. Whiffen of the Grand Falls-Windsor Cataracts being signed as an emergency back-up. It’s not unfamiliar duty for the senior hockey netminder since he performed the same role for the Growlers on a couple of occasions earlier this season.
Under normal circumstances, Toivonen might have been replaced after giving up the four second-period goals in a span of just over eight minutes. However, under ECHL emergency back-up rules, Whiffen could only come into the game in the event of an injury to Toivonen.
Eric Levine, who joined the Growlers last week, got his second win in as many starts in the Newfoundland goal, making 23 saves.
Dog Bites
With Brady Ferguson and Hudson Elynuik coming off injured reserve, room on the Growlers' active roster was created by the team placing Maxim Mizyurin on IR and forward Ryan Moore being recalled by the AHL's Toronto Marlies ... The Mariners announced Thursday they have acquired forward Wade Murphy from the Kalamazoo Wings for future considerations ... Announced attendance Tuesday was 2,455 ...
Twitter: @telybrendan
