Two goals from Italian import Nicola Pau helped the Adelaide Adrenaline to overcome the Sydney Bears 5-3 at the Penrith Ice Palace on Sunday night.

The Adrenaline showed great resilience in sealing the win, scoring four third period goals to turn a two-goal deficit into a two-goal win.

The early going had the feeling of a warm-up game, with reserved hockey from both teams as it was clear it was going to be a tight affair.

After both teams lost their first games of the season to the CBR Brave and Newcastle North Stars respectively, both were keen to salvage points from the weekend.

Despite early penalties, both teams proved strong on the penalty kill, successfully wearing down the penalties with solid intercepts limiting both sides to a few half-chances.

A slick breakaway just after the twelve minute mark finally saw the deadlock finally broken as Richard Tesarik skated clear receiving the pass from Lee Turner and slotting the puck past Charlie Smart in the Adelaide net.

Smart prevented the Adrenaline going in any further behind in the first with an impressive stop with a little help from the pipes as Sydney built some ascendency before the buzzer.

Physicality was on show as the second period kicked off, their physical presence allowing Adelaide to force two low saves from Mario Passarelli in the Bears’ net.

Passarelli saved the Bears again as a wayward pass almost gave the Adrenaline a break-way goal, before an offensive faceoff ultimately led to the Adrenaline’s first goal with Tyler Grove receiving a pass from Greg Oddy and slotting the goal.

As the period wore on, the game continued in much the same fashion as the first.

However, it was Sydney that took the lead once more as they took advantage of a power play, with import Joseph Harcharik planting the puck in the top corner after good build-up play from Cameron Todd and Tomas Landa.

It was soon a two-goal lead as Landa set up Michael Schlamp to give the Bears a two-goal lead heading into the final period.

Knowing they needed to chase the lead, the Adrenaline came out strongly at the start of the third, peppering the Sydney net with Pau eventually sneaking one through.

Landa almost added a goal to his two assists for the game as the game headed for its’ final ten minutes, rattling the pipe.

The rebound fell nicely for Adelaide and an Andrew White pass sent Darren Corstens on a breakaway with the Adrenaline forward slotting the puck home in the top right corner.

The visitors made it two goals in 34 seconds as Pau notched his second in the game, giving the Adrenaline the lead for the first time.

With six minutes left on the clock, the Bears threw everything at the net in hopes of drawing level once more, Thomas Cooney forcing a glove save from the blue line.

Adelaide’s defencemen refused to shirk their responsibilities however, blocking shots and preserving the lead.

The attacking pressure ultimately led to no reward for the home team, with the Adrenaline closing out the night when Tyler Grove deked his way through the defence and Remy McGuiness slotted the rebound.

Bears assistant coach Ron Kuprowsky was pleased with his team’s performance for the most part, noting the need for improvement in the final period, having seen his side throw away a two-goal lead.

“We’ve won four of the six periods this weekend,” Kuprowsky said. “We’ve just got to put it together a little better and make sure we finish these games off.”

Likewise defenceman, Patrick Ward acknowledged the lapse in concentration as the final period wore on, but was happy with the majority of the performance.

“We’ve got to work on playing the whole fifty,” Ward said, noting the third period lapses in concentration. “There are a lot of positives. It’s not the best start but it’ll make us hungrier.”

The Bears will be back in action next Saturday, taking on the Perth Thunder in Penrith, while Adelaide head to Canberra with some momentum from their first win of the season.