The Nashua Knights celebrate their dramatic last-second comeback win over MHBDS on Saturday at Conway Arena, the new program's first official win. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – The way it happened, it was almost worth the wait.

Nashua North-South’s Gavin Asimakopulos pounced on a loose puck after Merrimack-Hollis Brookline-Derryfeld’s goalie Liam Gagne made a save on the Knights’ Thomas Dratch and banged it home with a scant three-tenths of a second left. That gave the Knights their first win a month into the season, 6-5 at Conway Areana on Military Appreciation Day.

It was a remarkable comeback, as the Knights, who led 2-1 after the first period, found themselves down 5-2 going into the third.

“I was kind of high slot, I saw the goalie made a good save and I just came in and tried to throw a shot on net with .3 seconds left, and it happened to go in the back of the net,” Asimakopulos said, his team now 1-6 in Division I. “Always in the third period we kind of come out flat-footted, but today we just had another gear we didn’t know we had …It’s awesome, this is a huge turning point in the season.”

The Knights had lost their first three games by a goal and the next three by three each. But one thing was a constant, co-coach Chris Zarlenga said, leading to the four-goal comeback in the final eight-plus minutes.

“It’s the culture we have instilled in them,” Zarlenga said. “I mean, there is no quit in that room, right. Every single practice is 100 percent. From the day they showed up in December, to now it’s just gotten better and better.”

The comeback began with a goal by David Ramahlo at 5:52 of the third, assisted by Conor Prunier and Brendan Skelley. Just a little over three minutes later, Brendon Doughty scored unassisted on the power play to make it 5-4, and the game was on. The Knights were making something happen in a fast-paced way nearly every trip into the zone.

Then three-plus minutes later at 11: 51, Prunier tied it, assisted by Asimakopulos and Doughty. It was 5-5 and overtime was looming. But it never came.

“They’re on their heels,” Zarlenga said he and the staff told the players. “They’ve got one goal left, you’ve just got to go get it.”

For the Division II WarHawks, it had to be devastating. They were coming off a tough 4-2 loss at the hands of division rival Alvirne-Milford,and are now 3-5-1.

“They’ve (Nashua) got a couple of guys who can really go,” MHBDS coach Dan Belliveau said. “I mentioned this the last game, we need to tighten up defensively. And I’m going to add to that at this point, we just need to be more consistent with it. There was some inconsistency there that I think hurt us a bit.”

Early on, one would have thought the Knights would have been buoyed by the first of two Prunier goals with just a minute left in the opening period for a 2-1 Nashua lead.

But it was all WarHawks in the second period with four unanswered goals, three in a three-minute span, two each by Will Farrell (second one a shorthanded breakaway) and Josh Kahn. Farrell scored on an even strength goal 26 seconds into the period to tie it at 2, then Kahn scored the go-ahead on a 5-on-3 at 3:25 and then with the man advantage just 24 seconds later. Tyler Allen assisted on three of the goals, while Bryson Smith and Alex May had assists. May had a goal, assisted by Felix Rattunde that tied the game in the first period, two minutes after Doughty gave Nashua a 1-0 lead, assisted by Brendan Skelley at 10:13 of the first.

Nashua’s Thomas Dratch reaches to shoot the puck on WarHawks goalie Liam Gagne during the game’s final play on Saturday at Conway Arena. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Knights goalie Brendon Reudt von Collengerg held the fort with four saves in the third period. And for Asimakopulos, it was a coming out party, while making history for the new program.

“The best game he has played all year,” Zarlenga said. “We have been waiting for him to break through his shell. We have been telling him, you are going to be that player, and he showed it today.”

A day and a goal he and the entire program likely will never forget.