The Thunder opened on home ice with a 5-4 loss to the West Auckland Admirals on Friday night before posting a 4-2 win on Saturday.
But the weekend was only about the results to a certain extent.
The fixture was a chance to celebrate veteran Thunder forward Chris Eaden.
He marked his 500th career New Zealand Ice Hockey League point with a cracking goal in game two.
Eaden, in his second season with the Thunder after playing most of his career with the Canterbury Red Devils, now has a tally of 502 points from 259 games at the outstanding points-per-game rate of 1.94.
League-leading scorer Luke Stegmann gave the Thunder the perfect start to the doubleheader with a goal after just 73sec.
However, the visiting Admirals scored the next two goals and, after Samuel Loiselle dragged one back for the home team, scored another two to take a 4-2 lead into the final period.
Ollie Rout pulled one back for the Thunder, Scott Henry scored an unassisted short-handed goal for the Admirals, and Joe Orr scored on the power play to make it 5-4, but the Thunder could not find a late equaliser.
The Saturday rematch started with a rare scoreless period before Beckstead scored on the power play just 46sec into the second period.
Benjamin Stephen equalised immediately and nabbed another goal right at the start of the third period to give the Admirals a 2-1 advantage.
It was all Thunder from that point.
Loiselle made it 2-2, Eaden gave the Thunder the lead, and Orr iced the 4-2 victory with 20sec on the clock.
The Thunder’s dominance in game two was highlighted by having 47 shots on goal to the Admirals’ 18.
That takes the Thunder to 3-3 on the season, tied at the top of the table with the Admirals — who have two games in hand — on nine points.
The Dunedin team have a decent break before hosting the Red Devils on June 12-13.
