Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall forward Jake Allen (right) dekes past a defender before scoring a goal during the first period of a prep boys hockey game against Hutchinson, Friday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — Third-period penalties killed the Marshall boys hockey team when it hosted Hutchinson for a non-conference senior night matchup on Friday. Hutchinson scored five unanswered goals in the second period to pull ahead and down Marshall 8-1.

“We just need to commit to being better in our D [defensive] zone and attacking the play instead of just chasing it and being hesitant,” Marshall head coach Michael Weiss said after the loss.

Marshall led 1-0 heading into the second period, but it didn’t take long for momentum to shift. Griffin Hutchins recovered a rebound off a pad save to tap in the tying goal just over a minute into the period, and Austin Carter capitalized on a Marshall tripping penalty for a power-play goal two minutes later, sniping in a shot from the faceoff circle.

Hutchinson retained its lead for the remainder of the game. Carter gave the visiting Tigers some cushion when he scored on another Marshall roughing minor, and an even-strength goal from Charlie Wacek and a 5-on-3 power-play goal from Hudson Lien gave Hutchinson a 5-1 lead after the end of the second.

“They [Hutchinson] were using their speed well and moving the puck well, we just got puck-chasing a little bit and used our sticks a little bit too much,” Weiss said.

Jacob Allen gave Marshall some early momentum by scoring the game’s first goal. After coming up with a takeaway near the blue line, Allen just had one defender to beat between himself and the goalie. He deked his way past the defender and beat the goalie to the right post to give Marshall a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game.

Marshall outshot Hutchinson 8-7 in the first period, but the visiting Tigers fired off each of the first six shots of the second period and finished the night outshooting Marshall 29-15.

McCoy Guenther saved 21 of the 29 shots he faced in goal. Some of the goals he allowed were also out of his control, such as when a teammate checked a Hutchinson player into him to open up a gap for Hutchinson to score a minute into the third period.

Hutchinson added two more goals in the third period, one in which Guenther made the initial save on the break but Hutchinson tapped in the ricochet, and another in which he got a piece of the puck but not quite enough as it bounced through the five-hole.

Marshall falls to 7-17-0 on the season with the loss and wraps up its regular season today when it hosts Waseca at 1 p.m. in Red Baron Arena. From there, Marshall will prepare for next week’s Section 3A tournament.

“We’ve just got to keep building, learn how to rebound after some tough goals go in,” Weiss said of his team’s approach to the postseason. “You’ve got to rebound, kind of reset and can’t get into a negative mentality.”