ST. CLOUD, Minn. — After the second period of Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Saint John's, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey coach Bill Moore must have felt like he had stepped back in time.
 
After all, the Cardinals headed into the final 20 minutes of Saturday's contest with the 15th-ranked Johnnies tied—just like the night before, when Saint Mary's picked up a pair of MIAC points by beating SJU in a shootout.
 
Unfortunately for Moore, the third period wasn't as kind to the Cardinals, as Saint John's erupted for three third-period goals in dealing Saint Mary's a 4-2 conference setback at the Municipal Athletic Conference.
 
"We didn't play as well today as we did last night," said Moore. "Not to make excuses, but we've been on the road so much (seven of Saint Mary's first eight games have been away from home), it's just starting to take it's toll a bit.
 
"The guys worked hard and did some good things, so I'm not totally disappointed with the weekend," Moore added. "We'll just keep battling—no question about that."
 
After a scoreless first period—the second time in as many meetings that the two teams went through the opening 20 minutes without scoring a goal—the Johnnies broke the ice 6:09 into the second period on Neal Smith's fifth goal of the season.
 
The Johnnies' lead would last eight minutes, before Jed McGlasson (Kenai, Alaska) scored the equalizer on the power play to make it a 1-1 game heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
 
SJU's Huba Sekesi and Andrew Commers quickly transformed that 1-1 stalemate into a 3-1 advantage with goals 45 seconds apart early in the third.
 
Tyson Fulton pushed the Johnnies' lead to 4-1 with a power play goal at 16:28, but the Cardinals would answer with a power play goal of their own, as Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) found the back of the net for the fifth time this season with 34 seconds remaining.
 
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get.
 
Phil Heinle (York, Pa.)—who made a career-high 51 saves Friday's Game 1 of the two-game series—finished with 29 saves on Saturday, while SJU goalie Saxton Soley kicked out 27 of the Cardinals' 29 shots.
 
The Cardinals (0-2-2 MIAC, 2-4-2 overall) are now off until Dec. 5-6, when they close out the first semester with a pair of nonconference games at Aurora. Saint Mary's and Aurora will square off in a 7 p.m. contest on Friday, Dec. 6, before meeting again at 2 p.m. the following day. Both games will be played at the Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, Ill.