The Dunedin Thunder provided the perfect example of that as they split their doubleheader against the West Auckland Admirals at the weekend.
Game one finished with an explosion of scoring before the Admirals banked an 8-5 win on home ice on Avondale.
But the action was all at one end 24 hours later, the Thunder charging to a 6-0 shutout.
Luke Stegmann gave the Thunder an early lead in game one with his 16th goal of the season.
After the Admirals swished in two goals to end the first quarter, Stegmann opened the second with another on the power play.
Another two-goal Admirals burst followed before Ian Audas used a man advantage to score for the Thunder and make it a 4-3 game heading into the final period.
West Auckland nudged ahead 5-3 but Audas again reduced the deficit to two.
The Admirals promptly rattled in three goals in five minutes to take control, though Audas at least had the consolation of completing his hat-trick with the final goal of the game.
Audas, Samuel Loiselle and Cole Beckstead each added two assists.
Game two was all Thunder from start to finish.
Ollie Rout and Rayne Walsh scored in the first period, Beckstead and Morgan Blair scored in the second, and Walsh and Joe Orr iced victory in the third.
The Thunder’s dominance led to 38 shots on goal, while the Admirals managed just 19, and all were saved by Thunder goalie James Moore.
Loiselle added three assists and Walsh two.
Stegmann now tops the New Zealand Ice Hockey League scoring charts with 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists), two clear of team-mate Beckstead (14 goals, 20 assists).
Stampede star Conner Jean is third (17 goals, 16 assists) from just 10 games.
Both the Thunder (23 points) and the Admirals (21) have two games left in the regular season, while the Stampede (27), the Canterbury Red Devils (13) and the Botany Swarm (12) have four.
• The Wakatipu Wild won both games of their New Zealand Women’s Ice Hockey League doubleheader against the Canterbury Inferno in Christchurch.
Kelli Burstein scored a hat-trick to lead the Wild to a 4-1 in game one on Saturday night.
Burstein scored twice and goalie Zadia Pulse made 33 saves in the Wild's 3-0 win on Sunday.
