NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team overcame an early 3-1 deficit by scoring four consecutive goals in a 5-4 victory over the College of St. Scholastica in the team's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series opener on Friday night at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

St. Scholastica (11-10-1, 6-7-0 MIAC) scored three times in the space of 5:31 to grab a 3-1 lead before the midway point of the first period, but St. Olaf (10-7-3, 5-5-1 MIAC) tallied the next four goals, with three coming in the second period, to build a 5-3 lead after two. The Oles held off the Saints in the third despite the visitors getting an extra-attacker goal in the final 10 seconds.

Junior Jonathan Panisa led the come-from-behind effort from St. Olaf with two goals and one assist for the first three-point game of his collegiate career. Sophomore Tyler Green also had a multi-point night with a goal and an assist, while sophomore Tony Leahy and first year Adam Johnson also scored to help the Oles move to 7-1-1 at home this season.

After Tristan Shewchuk opened the scoring for St. Scholastica 4:13 in, Panisa pulled St. Olaf even with his team-leading 10th goal of the season 2:30 later via a wrist shot from the left circle off assists from seniors Jonathan Young and Ben Luscko. The Saints went back ahead just 12 seconds later through Gavin Gunderson and added a third from Brodie Girod to open up a 3-1 lead at the 9:44 mark of the opening period.

Leahy started the comeback for the Oles with his first goal since opening night at 15:53 of the first to cut St. Olaf's deficit to 3-2 after one. Leahy's goal came after the St. Scholastica goaltender misplayed a puck off the back wall straight to Panisa, who found a wide-open Leahy in front of an empty net for the goal.

St. Olaf tied the game for a second time just 2:04 into the second period when Green scored on a shot from outside the right circle after carrying the puck up the ice for his fifth goal of the season. The goal came after senior Matthew Pointer blocked a shot and tapped the puck to Green in his own defensive zone.

Later in the second, the Oles scored two power-play goals in the span of 2:29 to break the tie and claim a 5-3 lead. Panisa got his second goal of the night with a shot from the left circle at 11:35 after being set up by Green and senior Connor Kalthoff. Johnson added his second collegiate goal by tipping in a shot off the stick of junior Gunnar Johnson just seven seconds into the power play after first year Simon Pollock got the puck to Johnson.

Senior Thomas Lalonde made arguably the most important of his 18 saves on the night with a blocker save to deny Girod his second goal of the night midway through the third after Girod got free on the left side. Lalonde improved his record to 3-1-1 on the season with the win.

The victory, coupled with other results in the conference, moved St. Olaf into a tie with Saint John's University for the fourth and fifth playoff spots. The Oles and Johnnies are just two points behind the third-place Saints and have three other teams within three points of them.

The series finale is set for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth.