WINONA, Minn. — In each of their first three games, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team allowed five goals.

During that same span, the Cardinals' offense was also in mid-season form, netting 12 goals — including a season-high six in last Friday's 6-5 win over UW-Stout — in settling for a 1-1-1 record through the season's opening three games.

Last Saturday against UW-River Falls, SMU held the Falcons one goal under that five-goal average.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, their offense picked the wrong time to take an early-season break, managing just two goals in falling to UW-River Falls 4-2.

"I didn't think we played at quite the same energy level (against River Falls) as we did the night before," said SMU coach Don Olson. "It's not that we played poorly, it's just that not everyone was up to the same level as they were against Stout."

UW-River Falls jumped out to a 2-1 first-period advantage, sandwiching goals from Tyler Kostiuk and Jim Murphy around a powerplay goal by SMU's Marcus Reszka (Winona, Minn.).

The Falcons padded that lead to 4-1, scoring the lone goal of the second period, then scoring again three minutes into the third, before SMU's Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) cut the gap to 4-2 midway through the third period.

Reszka's powerplay goal was the fifth of the weekend for SMU, which converted on four of six powerplay advantages in its 6-5 triumph over UW-Stout on Friday.

"It was nice to get that first one," said Olson of Friday's win over UW-Stout. "Everyone was pretty pumped up to be playing at home, and I think that showed in how well we played that first period."

SMU erupted for four goals in the game's first 20 minutes, getting powerplay goals from Mike Bry (Manvel, N.D.) and Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) and even-strength tallies from Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) and Ryan Holland (Winona, Minn.), as the Cardinals held a commanding 4-1 advantage after one period.

"Sometimes when you jump out to a big lead like that, you tend to get a little too overconfident, and I think that happened to us a bit," said Olson, whose team outshot UW-Stout 20-5 in the first period, "We took some careless penalties in the second period, and that not only allowed (UW-Stout) to gain some momentum, but also to get back in the game."

Hofmann gave SMU a 5-1 edge with his second goal of the season three minutes into the second period, but the Blue Devils responded with back-to-back powerplay goals from Bryan Cummings and Joe Schneider to cut the lead to 5-3 head into the final period.

In the third, Holland netted his second of the game to give SMU a three-goal cushion, but UW-Stout wouldn't give in, scoring twice in an eight-minute span – including Adam Boche's goal with 44 seconds remaining in regulation — to make things interesting.

"It's nice to get the win," said Olson. "But it got a little too close for comfort."

The Cardinals are going to have to play as well as they did against UW-Stout — or better — tonight, when they play host to UW-Superior.

The Yellow Jackets (7-1-0 overall) enter tonight’s game riding a four-game win streak, outscoring those four MIAC teams (St. Olaf, Gustavus, Augsburg and Concordia) by a combined 32-6 count — including 10-2 and 12-2 wins over Augsburg and Concordia, respectively, last weekend.

“Superior is a very, very good team, there’s no denying that,” said Olson. “But I think we’ve also proven at times that we have the potential to be very good as well. The key for us is going to be making sure that everyone comes ready to give 100 percent — ready to do all the little things it takes to win.”