The North Jersey Avalanche lived up to the namesake Thursday, weathering a late second-period storm, then overwhelming the Minnesota Green Giants with two goals in the final 10 seconds en route to a 5-1 opening-game triumph.

The sudden outburst tipped a tight 2-1 contest into a comparatively one-sided situation from which the Green Giants couldn’t recover.

“Obviously the last 10 seconds (of the second period) changed the course of the game,” said Larry Robbins, Avalanche head coach. “We played to the whistles and our kids understood that 10 seconds is a long time.”

North Jersey’s Kenny Riddett scored the second and especially decisive goal with one second remaining on the clock.

“I saw that I had a pretty good chance to get the puck forward and into the corner off the faceoff, so that’s what I did,” said Riddett. “Our F1 went in hard and caused a turnover, the puck came to me and I just fired it. I didn’t have much of angle, but it went in.”

Minnesota never recovered, getting outshot 15-5 in the third period and seeing the only goal go to North Jersey’s Michael Posma. The four-goal margin belied what was actually a competitive battle, especially in the first period, when the teams tied in shots (6-6) and goals (1-1). That’s when North Jersey goaltender Ty Franchi was at his best.

“It’s so important to have a goalie who can come up with big saves in the first period, particularly on a day like today, when we had some early butterflies,” said Robbins.

Franchi was solid when the Avalanche needed him early, and solid again during a late second-period push from Minnesota, before Ian Pierce and Riddett caused the cave-in that doomed Minnesota.