Falmouth, ME – For thirty minutes it looked like Greely was in control, but York stormed back for two quick goals before Mitchel Donavan scored a shorthanded goal late in the third period to give the Rangers 3-2 victory over the Wildcats Thursday night at Falmouth Family Ice Arena.

Greely (8-3-1) entered the third period with a 2-0 lead and nearly made it 3-0, but Andrew Hackett was stopped on a breakaway two minutes into the period by York goalie Jared Posternak.

Greely had kept York (6-5-2) off the scoreboard for 80 minutes, 16 seconds – Greely defeated York, 4-0, on Jan. 9 at Dover Ice Arena – before finally breaking through at the 5:16 mark of the third period.

Tyson Bernard carried the puck around three members of the Greely squad, lifting a backhander past goalie Kyle Kramlich from the left circle to pull the Wildcats to within a goal.

Only 16 seconds later, York tied the game 2-2 as Jared Clauson took a feed from Conor O’Brien, spinning around in the slot and whipping a shot by Kramlich.

Greely never panicked as they’ve been in this position before.

They were up by two goals against Yarmouth less than two weeks ago before losing, 7-6, at home.

The Rangers than faced a series of crushing defeats at the Colisee in Lewiston, losing to Class A powerhouse Lewiston, 3-2, in overtime and two nights later to St. Dom’s, 3-2, after the Saints scored with 1.8 seconds remaining.

They were prepared to deal with giving up another two-goal lead.

With Greely’s Aidan Black in the box for boarding, Mitchel Donovan broke free from the York blueliners and beat Posternak for his 10th goal of the season at 9:31 of the period to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead, still with 56 seconds left of the York power play.

“When York tied it up, we got back to it which was good because we need to be resilient,” said Greely coach Barry Mothes. “We’ve been in some real close one-goal games. To be tied in the third period and pull out the win was good for the character of the team.”

York held the pressure early in the first period, but it was Donovan finding the back of the net for his first goal of the night with 4:07 remaining the period as a turnover at the blueline led to a two-on-one rush in the other direction.

Brendan Trelegan put a shot on net from off the backboard, beating Posternak only 39 seconds later as Greely grabbed a 2-0 lead after one period.

“This was a good game for us,” said Mothes. “This game had a real playoff feel to it.”

“Sometimes I think we got into a little too much trouble for being too calm. We could have had a little more urgency on some plays and handed the puck a little better. It was tough to give up those two goals, but I like how our guys bared down and played well after that.”

Kramlich finished with saves, while Posternak stopped 22 of 25 shots in the loss.

NOTES: Greely Junior Kenny Richards and York’s Jared Clauson, who scored the tying goal, were given game disqualifications after a scrum broke out at the end of the game. Richards and Clauson will both miss their next game as a result.