The Maine Mariners celebrate after Jacob Hudson scored in the second overtime to give them a 2-1 win over the Wheeling Nailers in Game 4 of the ECHL North Division finals on Tuesday in Portland. The series is tied, 2-2. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
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PORTLAND — Jacob Hudson says he has no trouble getting his body to rest after a marathon hockey game, but getting his mind to shut off is a different story.
Following Game 4 of the ECHL North Division finals, the Maine Mariners forward could imagine his mind replaying his double-overtime goal that tied the series at two games apiece.
At 8:06 of the second extra period, just after 11 p.m. Tuesday, Hudson ended the longest game in franchise history as he scored to give Maine a 2-1 victory over the Wheeling Nailers.
“It’s kind of like Game 7, do or die, you either win or you lose,” Hudson said when asked if he enjoyed playing in his fifth overtime game this postseason. “And I mean, scoring that goal is a pretty good feeling. You just kind of give it your all. It’s like nothing else matters. You just go.”
Game 5 is 7 p.m. Wednesday at Cross Insurance Arena. Maine’s win means the series will return to Wheeling, West Virginia, for Game 6 on Saturday, and possibly Game 7 on Sunday.
The clincher was set up by a successful penalty kill. Max Andreev’s pass into the neutral zone established a 2-on-1 rush with Hudson and Robert Cronin, who raced out of the penalty box and dropped the puck off for the team’s leading playoff scorer on the right side of the net.
Maine had three power-play opportunities in overtime, including 2:29 of a double-minor high-sticking call that carried over from regulation, and 56 seconds of man-up advantage to start the second overtime, but many times it was difficult to set up a play. A day after giving up four power-play goals, Wheeling was aggressive on the PK and perfect on all seven chances.
“Sometimes it’s simple,” Mariners coach Rick Kowalsky said. “You overthink it, right? You’re looking for the perfect shot. And I thought tonight, early on in the game, we passed up shots or hesitated, and they did a great job of blocking shots or getting in lanes.”
Hudson used an open passing lane to find Andreev with a right-to-left feed and start the scoring at 4:56 of the first period. The pair also combined to win Game 1 of the first-round series against Adirondack, the only other overtime victory Maine has this postseason.
The Nailers scored at 17:01 of the first on a power-play goal by Brayden Edwards from the slot.
Luke Cavallin (35 saves) was phenomenal in net for the Mariners, especially in the second period when Wheeling outshot its hosts 14-3 and the 2025 Kelly Cup Finals MVP was forced to stop multiple point-blank shots and odd-man rushes.
“He kept us in the game,” Andreev said. “Second period, they had 10 Grade-A chances, probably. We weren’t good enough defensively. He kept us in it.”
The Mariners were able to give their defense a bit of a break in the third period and started peppering Wheeling goalie Taylor Gauthier (33 saves).
“I thought we got stronger as the game went on,” Kowalsky said. “And we’re the team that’s played a lot more games, so again, just going back to the character and the grit in the group, it’s been unbelievable.”
