Through the first 20 minutes of their game against the No. 16 Minnesota State, Mankato Mavericks on Friday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena, the St. Thomas Tommies looked like the ranked team, skating, pressing, dominating puck possession and producing numerous scoring chances.

It was enough for a 2-0 lead. But as it turned out, one outstanding period of hockey was not enough, as the Mavericks (7-4-0, 2-1 CCHA) scored three unanswered goals in the third period for a 5-3 victory.

The loss dropped the Tommies to 2-5-1 overall and 1-2 in the CCHA. The teams play again on Saturday in Mankato.

“I thought we were playing to our identity,” St. Thomas coach Rico Blasi said of the strong start. “And then, obviously they’re a good hockey team, and they’re going to push back. We expected that in the second period. The third period, I’m not sure what to make of that.

“There were a lot of special teams. Sometimes you have to manage the game a little bit differently, and I didn’t think we did a very good job managing the game in the third period.”

First period power-play goals by Cooper Gay and Lucas Wahlin gave the Tommies the early lead.

“I certainly thought we had some jump, and doing things the right way,” Blasi said.

The Mavericks looked like a different team from the opening faceoff of the second period, and only the strong play of goaltender Aaron Trotter prevented Mankato from taking control of the game in the second.

The Mavericks scored the only goal of the period at 4:27 when Brian Carrabes beat Trotter on a wrist shot from high in the slot.

The Tommies thought they made it a 3-1 game at 16:52 on a strong individual effort by Liam Malmquist, but the goal was disallowed after replay showed the Tommies interfered with Mavericks goaltender Alex Tracy.

“It was probably a good call,” Blasi said.

Malmquist’s power-play goal at 2:15 of the third period gave the Tommies a 3-1 lead. But the Mavericks answered less than a minute later, and from that point on they dominated play.

They tied the game at 6:39 when Luciano Wilson scored on a breakaway after the Tommies turned the puck over at the Mavericks’ blue line.

“You can’t do that,” Blasi said. “No matter what level of hockey you play you can’t turn the puck over.”

The eventual game winner came at 9:20 with Minnesota State on a 5-on-3 power play.

Any hopes the Tommies had for a late comeback were dashed when Ryder Donovan was assessed a major penalty for contact to the head. The Mavericks then enjoyed a two-man advantage when Wahlin took a penalty at 18:50.

The Mavericks added an empty-net goal with 26 seconds to play.

The Tommies were considered to have a legitimate chance of winning the CCHA regular season title when the preseason polls came out. Friday night’s first period added some credence to that.

“We’ve gotten off to good starts in all of our games,” Blasi said. “We’ve just got to be able to finish the game.”

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