Coming off two rough losses this past weekend, the New Jersey 87's found themselves down 1-0 on home ice Tuesday night against the Jersey Wildcats. Head coach Adam Houli told the players on the bench to keep calm and stick with the game plan.

In response, the 87's commenced a 15-goal blitzkrieg en-route to their biggest win of the season.

"It was certainly a strong game from us," Houli said. "Our assistant coach Matt Kiernan said it best, we were due for one of those games."

The 87's (18-6-2) set a new record for most goals in a game in the franchise's young history. All but one skater recorded at least a point in the victory while three players scored at least two goals. Christian McCue picked up the hat trick, making it the second time he has achieved the feat this season.

"We came out of the weekend getting beat twice by the same team up in New Hampshire and we said we'll never do this again," McCue said about the win. "We came back buzzing, ready to play and the boys did really great work on the ice."

Two players also made their debuts with the team in its final game of 2017. Wyatt Hinkson is a defenseman and currently in his senior year at DeMatha Catholic in Maryland. He replaced Tim Lazousky, who went back to Belarus for the holiday break. Hinkson made his presence immediate by scoring a power-play goal and adding an assist. After the game, he spoke about the team's reaction to his goal.

"The way they all freaked out as soon as I scored, I'm pretty sure nobody expected that," said Hinkson, whose family drove from Maryland up to Middletown just hours before the game. "The players were all so excited for me, they're almost like a family and I've only been there for one game."

Louie Kuka was signed by the 87's after starting the season with the New York Bobcats of the EHL. He was activated from the IR and marked his debut on Tuesday night with two goals which included a shorthanded tally. 

"The first goal, Trevor (Cear) had his head up, passed me the puck and I had a breakaway. Second time Sean Carver just iced the puck, I raced to it, made a good move and put the puck in," Kuka said. 

Houli spoke about both players being an integral part of the 87's victory.

"Really liked Louie's game, really like Wyatt's game, they both looked comfortable in the setting. Louie delivered on what we thought he would, putting up points and was very good today," he said. "Wyatt was very sound, and that's a testament to our recruiting staff to go out there and find those guys and bring them in and get them these games so we know that if we need them, they can play."

Aidan Wright opened the scoring for the Wildcats at 9:44 of the first period, but Austin Bell evened the score on the power play one minute and seven seconds later. The 87's would score three more goals in the first period, including Griffin Dublois' first goal with the team. Wildcats' goaltender Dylan Knighton was pulled in favor of emergency backup Matt Ajello. The 87's went on to score four more in the second period, tying their season high of eight goals in a single game. 

Adam Antal scored for the Wildcats early in the third period to make it 8-2, but the 87's responded with a barrage of seven unanswered goals. Defenseman Vincent Cirillo also picked up his first goal as an 87 while Josh Rosenbaum scored twice in a span of 1:18. Goaltender Jon Szynalski stopped 12 of 14 shots to record his 10th win of the season.

The win concluded the 87's 2017 portion of the season. The team will take a break for the holidays and return to action on January 6 and 7 with a pair of home games. Saturday's game will be a rematch against the Wildcats, and on Sunday they'll host the Philadelphia Little Flyers. When talking about the break, Houli said he's confident the team will carry their success into the calendar year of 2018.

"We told the players they to have to stay in shape and stay active, it's something they'll have to do on their own, but I think it'll be a good break for us to mentally reset and get ready for the last 12 weeks of practice and games. Hopefully we'll get ready for the final run and go deep into the playoffs."