WINONA, Minn. ­— The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey team put together one of its best periods of the season Saturday evening—completing dominating Gustavus over the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Problem was, a less-than-stellar first period put the Cardinals in a 3-0 hole—a hole they could not dig out of—as Gustavus dealt Saint Mary's a 5-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
"It's the same thing I said (Friday night)—getting off to a good start is the key," said Saint Mary's coach Bill Moore, whose team beat the Gusties 4-1 in the first game of their two-game MIAC series Friday evening. "We did not have a good first period tonight and it cost us.
 
"I was proud of the way the guys battled—and they really played well in the second and third periods, it was just too much to overcome."
 
The Gusties, who were held off the scoreboard for the first 30 minutes of Friday's loss to the Cardinals, weren't about to wait until the middle of the second period a second night in a row—scoring twice in the game's first nine minutes to take a 2-0 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's answered less than 40 seconds after the Gusties' second goal, as Jay Heinle (York, Pa.) took a feed from Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) and rifled a shot past GAC goalie Chris Amsden to pull the Cardinals within one, 2-1.
 
Gustavus would find the back of the net for a third time in the opening period, then tack on another 12:30 into the second period to grab what appeared to be a commanding 4-1 lead heading into the game's final stanza.
 
The Cardinals peppered Amsden with 17 shots in the third period, but only Heinle's second goal of the game at 3:24 would get past the freshman netminder.
 
Gustavus added an empty-net goal by Jake McCann with 29 seconds remaining in regulation to seal the win for the Gusties.
 
Amsden finished with 40 saves in goal for GAC, while a pair of Saint Mary's goalies combined for 17 saves.
 
The Cardinals (6-7-1 MIAC, 9-12-2 overall) close out their regular-season schedule next weekend, hosting Saint John's in a pair of conference games. The two teams will square off at 7 p.m. at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, with the rematch taking place Saturday at 2 p.m.