After an 8-3 trouncing at the hands of the Botany Swarm at the Dunedin Ice Stadium on Saturday night, the Thunder got another crack at the Auckland based side yesterday.
Playing without Harrison, who dislocated his shoulder on Saturday and needs season ending surgery, the Thunder hit back to win 6 4 in a thrilling contest.
Leading 4-2 late in the final period, the Thunder were given a scare when the Swarm scored two goals within five minutes to tie the game up with barely three minutes left on the clock.
However, Mat Enright put the Thunder back in front just 39 seconds later when he flicked in Luke Pickering's shot, which goalie Frankie McClendon failed to control.
The Swarm pulled McClendon in pursuit of an equaliser, allowing American import Austin Konchar to bury the puck in the empty goal and seal the win inside the final minute.
It was Konchar's third goal of the match, a deserved milestone for the debutant, who got the Thunder off to a blistering start when he slipped the puck past McClendon with his first touch in a Thunder uniform just 26 seconds into the game.
Swarm forward Jordan Challis finally capitalised on his side's third power play with 3min 46sec left in the first period, when he fired past Jakub Pyrochta from a tough angle to equalise.
The Thunder did not waste much time scoring in the second period, with captain Paris Heyd breaking out and showing his class to rifle the puck past McClendon one on one.
However, the Swarm replied through Maxim Kaluzhny less than 90 seconds later in similar fashion, after a Thunder raid on goal broke down through a loose pass.
Konchar and Shaun Harrison punished the Swarm in consecutive power plays to put the Thunder 4-2 up, before the home side found itself two men down and under intense power play pressure.
But French import Arthur Cocar and Pyrochta made a bunch of superb defensive plays to help the Thunder hold on to its 4-2 lead into the third period.
Pyrochta was particularly impressive, at one stage plucking the puck out of the air, despite Swarm forward Andrew Hamburg shooting from close range.
Thunder coach Janos Kaszala credited his team's defence and character to bounce back from Saturday's loss, a match in which his team was heavily penalised.
''[On Saturday] we had a lot of issues with the penalties. Some of them were penalties, but there was so many of them, I think it was too harsh,'' he said.
''We ended up 28 minutes on the penalty kill, we were six minutes with five on three, which I've never seen all my life, and I've been in ice hockey for a long time.''
In Saturday's season opener, the Thunder led 2-1 until late in the second period, when the Swarm fired in two quick goals to snatch a 3-2 lead with 20 minutes to play.
The final period was an ugly one for the Thunder, as the Swarm rattled in five more goals to blow away last year's finalists.
Heyd, Pickering and Harrison scored in the loss.
In Auckland, the Southern Stampede recorded two emphatic wins against the West Auckland Admirals.
Jade Portwood scored four goals and Mike McRae added two in Saturday's 11-3 hammering, before the Stampede added a comfortable 7-2 win yesterday.
• Antoine Vermette scored in the third period to earn Chicago a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in game five, Reuters reported, giving the Blackhawks the chance to clinch the Stanley Cup on home ice tomorrow.
Vermette shovelled in a cross ice pass from Kris Versteeg to give the Blackhawks a 3 2 lead in the best of seven finals yesterday.
