Nashua South-Pelham's Brian Keefe tries to escape a check by North-Souhegan's Jared Gauthier to get to the puck during Monday night's game at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They saved their best for what is likely the last game of a big rivalry.

The Nashua High School South-Pelham hockey team dominated North-Souhegan at Conway Arena on Monday night to the tune of a 6-0 rout, quite possibly ending a rivalry to remember with a one-sided game to forget.

“The boys came out, they played hard start to finish, it’s what we’ve been looking for all year, a complete hockey game,” Kings coach Jordan Sarracco said. “They showed up and played a complete hockey game and earned the win.”

Obviously the game had overtones as the Nashua players on both teams may be teammates next season with a North-South proposed co-op, and that will end what’s been a city rivalry in one form or another since The Split. But it was also big for the 5-10-1 Kings as they are still breathing for a tournament spot. They’ll have to beat Winnacunnet on the road on Wednesday and Keene at home on Saturday to have a chance at the 10th and final Division I tourney spot.

“We need to win out in order to secure it,” Sarracco said. “There’s still a chance starting with the win tonight. We’ve got to keep this type of energy and this type of hockey all the way through.”

For the winless (0-15) Saber-Titans, it was a familiar story. Shorthanded – they were missing injured forwards Conor Prunier and Connor O’Neil – and had to roll basically just two lines.

“You’ve got two of your six forwards out with injuries, you’ve got kids forced to play 38 minutes of a 45-minute game,” North-Souhegan coach Chris Zarlenga said. “It’s not healthy. They can’t sustain it for this long. I feel for them.”

The Kings scored two goals in each period. Brendon Doughty had two goals and an assist, while Brendan Skelley had two goals. Doughty started it as somehow he got the puck under the grasp of Saber-Titan netminder Tony Venezia at 3:49 of the first period, and Skelley scored in the slot off a great Doughty centering pass at 11:52.

Doughty scored from the point assisted by Gavin Asimakopulos just 1:25 into the second for a 3-0 lead, and Skelley put an off-balance shot on the power play in at 8:20 for a 4-0 lead.

Asimakopulos (Andrew Byrne assist) and Brian Keefe (Kaden Cruz assist) scored in the third, the latter making the final 4:41 running time.

The irony was the Saber-Titans had six power plays and came up empty on them all.

“We spent a little too much time in the box,” Sarracco said, “but our penalty kill came up big. We practice it a lot, and they executed it incredibly well. I’d like to think we’ve got the best penalty kill in the state.”

And the Kings have at least five shorthanded goals this season to show for it.

Meawhile, the flip side of that was that the Saber-Titans went 0 for 6 on the power play. They got a breakaway by Callen Cullity but he was robbed by one of the Kings’ two goalies who played, Ethan Robinson. Robinson and Soule combined for nine saves. Venizia had 24.

“Passing on the power play has been terrible,” Zarlenga said. “If we could get in the zone we looked OK. We’re running more of a not ordinary breakout and we’re paying for it because we can’t make passes.”

Nashua North-Souhegan’s Callen Cullity skates away frustrated after South-Pelham goalie Ethan Robinson robs him on a breakaway attempt during Monday night’s game at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Nashua North-Souhegan’s Callen Cullity skates away frustrated after South-Pelham goalie Ethan Robinson robs him on a breakaway attempt during Monday night’s game at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

And thus now they go their separate ways. The Saber-Titans have three more games to go to try to get a win. They could do the Kings a favor by beating Pinkerton here on Wednesday, then they have to be at Salem on Thursday before winding up the season and perhaps their 10-year existence as a co-op at Manchester on Saturday – fittingly a team that is the combination of that city’s three public high schools.

“It’s unfortunate we’re having the same speech every game,” Zarlenga said. “No matter what, the kids aren’t quitting. We can always say that. No one’s giving in and they have a lot of fight in them. But when a team is this injured and this tired and out of it, it’s really hard to go out there and compete. But they do.”

And then there’s the Kings, who have to come down from the elation of last night’s win to try and get two more.

“We’ve got two tough games to win to get to playoffs,” Sarracco said. “All we’re telling them is to take it one game, one period, one shift at a time.”