Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Jackson Bladholm fires a shot on net during their game against Worthington on Saturday. Marshall fell to Worthington 5-3.

MARSHALL — After dropping a tough 5-3 loss to Luverne on Friday, the Marshall boys hockey team looked to bounce back with a home matchup against Worthington on Saturday. Marshall went toe-to-toe with Worthington for the majority of the game, but a goal late in the third period helped the Trojans earn a 5-3 victory at the Red Baron Arena and Expo.

Marshall assistant coach Jim Haynes said they’ve been playing well over their recent games, but felt they still need to execute better in order to translate their strong play into wins.

“The last two games, we’ve played some pretty good hockey and we’ve been talking about needing to play winning hockey,” Haynes said. “We’ve been doing a lot of things well and playing some good hockey but still there’s a difference between good hockey and winning hockey and when you don’t execute on your opportunities and they execute on theirs, that’s the difference between just simply good hockey and winning hockey.”

It was back and forth to start, with both teams getting scoring chances early but weren’t able to capitalize. Worthington then struck first with a goal with 10:08 left in the opening period, but Marshall had a response, as Logan Deutz got one past the goaltender on the assist from Jared Reinsma a few minutes later to tie things up at 1-1.

Worthington wasted little time breaking the stalemate in the second period, scoring just 50 seconds into the frame to take a 2-1 lead before adding another goal a few minutes later to push its advantage to 3-1. But Marshall wouldn’t go down without a fight, and drew to within one when Jackson Bladholm found the back of the net on the assist from Parker Schmitt with 4:35 to go in the frame to make it 3-2.

Still trailing by a goal going into the third, Marshall hoped to regain some momentum, but started the period trying to stop a Worthington power play. Worthington was able to capitalize quickly, however, scoring with 45 seconds left on the power play opportunity to take a 4-2 lead.

Despite the deficit, Marshall kept battling, and made it a one-goal game again with 10:17 left when Deutz scored his second of the game on the assist from Gabe Sherman and Braxton Meyer.

Both teams then had opportunities to add to their total over the next few minutes on the power play, but weren’t able to capitalize. Then with 1:26 left, Worthington pushed its lead to 5-3 with an empty-net goal and ultimately earned the victory.

Haynes said their key on offense was forcing turnovers and using that to create pressure on the other side of the ice.

“We were doing a good job of pressuring and creating turnovers which led to good low to high offense and good shots from the exterior,” Haynes said. “We were pretty good on the pressure and the forecheck and then a matter of executing on some opportunities, especially second and third opportunities.”

Marshall outshot Worthington 44-25 on the game. Ezra Maurice recorded 20 saves in net for Marshall.

Saluting the seniors

Marshall also honored its five seniors on Saturday. They are Bladholm, Cooper VanOverbeke, Colbey Denson, Grant Horvath and Justin Cavazos.

Up next

Marshall (3-12) will have a quick turnaround and will host New Ulm today at 7 p.m.

Worthington 5, Marshall 3

Worthington 1 2 1 – 5

Marshall 1 1 1 – 3

SCORING SUMMARY

First Period

Worthington: J. Ahrenstorff, 7:13 (Farra).

Marshall: Deutz, 10:04 (Reinsma).

Penalties

Worthington: B. Ahrenstorff, 14:11 (Tripping, 2 min).

Second Period

Worthington: Woodbury, 1:07 (Farra).

Worthington: Woodbury, 4:12 (Langerud, Luinenburg).

Marshall: Bladholm, 12:53 (Schmitt).

Penalties

Worthington: B. Ahrenstorff, 7:37 (Interference, 2 min).

Marshall: Bladholm, 16:52 (Elbowing, 2 min).

Third Period

Worthington: Honius, 1:26 (power play) (Benson, B. Ahrenstorff).

Marshall: Deutz, 7:00 (Sherman, Meyer).

Worthington: Honius, 15:34 (empty-net) (B. Ahrenstorff).

Penalties

Marshall: Beernaert, 5:32 (Roughing, 2 min).

Worthington, Honius, 6:06 (Roughing, 2 min).

Worthington: Benson, 11:59 (Tripping, 2 min).

Marshall: Deutz, 13:14 (Cross-checking, 2 min).

Worthington: B. Ahrenstorff, 16:59 (Interference, 2 min).

SOG: Marshall 44, Worthington 25.

Saves: Maurice 20; Worthington 41.