ST. CLOUD, Minn. – In a matchup of two teams pursuing spots in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs, the St. Olaf College men's hockey team topped Saint John's University by a 3-1 margin in the series opener between the two teams on Thursday night at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

After a scoreless first period, Saint John's (9-11-4, 6-8-1 MIAC) got on the board first past the midway point of the second period, but St. Olaf (9-10-2, 5-6-2 MIAC) scored three times in the span of 6:03 later in the period to close out the scoring. The win improved the Oles' record to 2-0-1 in their last three games at the HBNHC after going 1-6-1 in its previous eight games at the venue.

With the regulation victory, St. Olaf jumped up into a tie for the fifth and final playoff spot with 17 points, leapfrogging Saint Mary's University by one point, with three games remaining. The Oles are even on points with Concordia-Moorhead, which has four games to go and holds the tiebreaker on St. Olaf. Saint John's remained in fourth with 21 points but has just one game to play.

After a goalless opening period that saw both teams register eight shots on goal, the Johnnies broke through at the 11:47 mark of the second period on Chris Kernan's first collegiate goal. Kernan was on hand to score from in front after Garrett Smith found Kernan with a backhand pass after Cooper Anderson got the puck to Smith. The goal came less than 30 seconds after junior Thomas Lalonde made consecutive sprawling saves to deny Kernan and Smith and keep the game scoreless.

The Saint John's lead only lasted 56 seconds, however, as St. Olaf responded quickly to tie the game at 1-1. Junior Ben Luscko won a faceoff back to senior Troy Bowditch, who sent a shot towards the net that deflected through Jon Howe for Bowditch's seventh goal of the season and his second in the last three games.

Just 1:29 later, the Oles took the lead on the first collegiate goal from sophomore Jack Boxer. First year Tyler Green set up the goal, skating up the right side, putting on the breaks, and finding Boxer, who jumped into the play and ripped the puck into the top-right corner of the net.

Junior Jonathan Young completed the three-goal flurry for St. Olaf with his team-leading ninth goal of the season at 18:46 of the third to give the Oles a two-goal advantage. After junior Connor Kalthoff backhanded the puck to Young in his own defensive zone, Young entered the offensive zone and gave the puck to sophomore Jonathan Panisa, who slid the puck back for Young to tap in. The assist was Kalthoff's 12th point in the last eight games and moved him into a tie with junior Cody Sherman for the team lead with 11 assists this season.

Early in the third, Lalonde denied Logan Lyke from close range just 2:23 before Saint John's went on its second power play of the night seconds later. The Johnnies, who entered the night just 5-for-47 (10.6 percent) on the power play this season, cut their power play short by committing a penalty of their own just 24 seconds in.

On the short ensuing St. Olaf power play, the Oles thought they had a fourth goal when Panisa's shot from the left circle appeared to go in the net and bounce out, but the officials waved it off. With the Saint John's net empty in the final minute, the Johnnies got the puck in the net just after the whistle had gone after the officials lost sight of the puck.

Both teams managed 25 shots on goal in the game, with Lalonde stopping 24-of-25 Saint John's shots to improve to 5-2-2 on the season. Howe had 22 saves for the Johnnies in the game that included just three total penalties.

The series finale is set for 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 9 at St. Olaf Ice Arena.