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ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Talk about a case of bad timing.

With the conference playoff race heating up, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team has picked a rather inopportune time for its offense to go into a deep freeze.

The Cardinals, battling for one of those five Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season invitations, came up empty for the second game in a row Friday evening, as Saint John's erupted for four second-period goals en route to a 6-0 conference win at the National Hockey Center.

“We just aren't creating the offensive opportunities we were (early in the season,” said SMU coach Bill Moore. “And the chances we are getting, we aren't converting. We need to shake out of our funk — and fast.

“But it's going to take a total team effort, everyone's got to do their job — at both ends of the ice,” Moore added. “Until that happens, we are going to struggle.”

The Johnnies, who outshot SMU 7-5 in the game's opening 20 minutes — holding SMU without an even-strength shot on goal — broke the scoreless deadlock with less than three minutes remaining in the first, Michael Palmiscno scored his first of the season on the power play with less than three minutes remaining in the opening period.

SJU erupted for four second-period goals — including back-to-back shorthanded tallies two minutes apart late in the stanza — to give the Johnnies a commanding 5-0 cushion with 20 minutes to play. And Phil Johnson netted his second of the game, and ninth of the season, less than two minutes into the third period to round out the scoring.

Saxton Soley stopped all 23 Saint Mary's shots in recording the shutout for SMU, while Christian Gaffy (Scandia, Minn.) made 17 saves in two periods of work, while Jason Horstman (Faribault, Minn.) stopped 10 of the 11 third-period shots he faced.

The Cardinals (5-5-1 MIAC, 7-12-1 overall) — who are currently sitting in fifth place, one point in front of Bethel and Gustavus with five conference games remaining — are back on the ice with the Johnnies on Saturday afternoon, as the two teams square off at 2 p.m. at the National Hockey Center.