Photo by Noah Clooten

Photo by Noah Clooten

DEVILS LAKE — An early 2-0 hole proved to be the difference.

Devils Lake boys’ hockey settled in after a slow start, facing Fargo Davies at Burdick Arena on Tuesday. But the Firebirds, despite playing nearly evenly with the Eagles in the second and third periods, couldn’t recover from a pair of goals in the first three minutes of the game.

Devils Lake (4-12, 3-8) fell 4-3 to Fargo Davies (9-9, 8-5). The Eagles took more shots on goal, 34-31 — thought the Firebirds outpaced them 26-18 after the first period.

“That’s something we’ve kind of lacked all year, is coming back in games,” Devils Lake head coach Landyn Swenson said. “I like the way that they battled and made it a fun game.”

The Firebirds’ goals were scored by Jackson Schumacher, Weston Stromme and Brody Parker. All three came on power plays. Parker and Stromme are the top two goal scorers on the team with 12 and 11, respectively. It was the third of the year for Schumacher.

Devils Lake had it down to the wire in the third period, scoring its third goal with just 1:24 left. It was a contentious finale that saw the Firebirds come up just short. After jawing between players on both sides, Davies was charged with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. A Davies player also shoved Thomas Connor after a play was over, and another Eagle threw his stick after being sent to the box for cross-checking.

“The retaliation penalty is usually the one that’s gonna get called,” Swenson said. “So I like the way they held their composure. That’s something that we need to continue to get better at, is holding your emotions and not exploding.”

Davies came out strong with an aggressive and merciless attack. The puck was almost exclusively in Devils Lake’s zone for the first two minutes of the game.

And, just two minutes and 41 seconds into the game, the Eagles put one in the net. The puck took a deceptive bounce off the stick of Carter Salberg, who was helped by two assists.

Thirty-one seconds later, Salberg put one in again. It was unassisted this time. Devils Lake abruptly found itself in a 2-0 hole.

“It’s just not coming to the game focused,” Swenson said. “There’s a couple mental mistakes in the first quarter that resulted in goals.”

The Firebirds were charged with two penalties in the rest of the first period. Davies didn’t capitalize on either power play; Devils Lake actually had some of its best chances in the period while short-handed. Parker got the puck in front of the net with no defenders on him and narrowly missed poking it in the corner of the net.

Devils Lake calmed down after the immediately rough start. The Firebirds started getting to Davies’ side of the ice a little more. But they still trailed 2-0 after the first period, with Davies leading 16-5 in shots on goal.

It took just 40 seconds into the second period for things to start going a little better for Devils Lake. A hooking penalty was called on Davies, giving the Firebirds their first power play.

And Devils Lake took advantage. Logan Stokke passed it from behind the net into the middle for Schumacher, who made the short-range shot into the net. The same Firebirds who’d been down 2-0 less than three minutes into the game were now only a goal behind.

Devils Lake had another power play with 12:58 left in the second period. Braxton Boline had a long-range shot saved; the Firebirds got the puck loose a few times, but Davies goalie Beckun Metcalf stayed resilient.

The Firebirds were outshooting Davies 6-1 in the period. Things were trending their way.

Mere seconds after the Eagles returned to full strength, Devils Lake’s Braxton Devier was charged with roughing. A minute and nine seconds into the power play, Brody Parmer snuck one in with the help of two assists. It was back to a two-goal lead for Davies, 3-1.

But the string of power plays kept coming. Devils Lake had an advantage at 8:12 after a cross-checking call, and Stromme scored from deep at 7:26. Stromme was assisted by Boline to cut the deficit to 3-2.

With 6:49 left in the second period, Boline was hit with his second penalty of the game. Thirty-seven seconds thereafter, Dom Deibert scored a power play goal for Davies with two assists.

Each team scored two goals in the second period, with all four coming on power plays. Davies only outshot Devils Lake 8-7 in the period. But the early hole was still haunting the Firebirds, who trailed 4-2 after two full periods.

Forsberg had a particular nice save early in the third period with two men rushing in on him. Davies was charged with interference at 14:07, and a cluster of Firebirds formed at the net but couldn’t find an opening.

Just 12 seconds after the Eagles returned to full strength, they were hit with roughing. But Devils Lake failed to capitalize on either power play.

The Firebirds survived a Davies power play with 3:55 to go. At the 1:53 mark, Boline appeared to get in a scourge with an Eagles player. It was unclear what was said, but it seemed to have been instigated by Davies, judging that only one player was sent to the box. It was ruled unsportsmanlike conduct.

So Devils Lake had an advantage. It rushed to the goal, and the players were still slightly on edge from the brief hassle. A Davies player pushed Connor near the net after time was called.

And, with 1:24 left in the game, Parker swished one in the net. He was assisted by Stromme. It was suddenly a one-goal game with Devils Lake still working on a power play.

Davies got back to full strength. But as the clock ticked down to just 21.5 seconds, the Eagles’ Duncan Metcalf was called for cross-checking. Metcalf was irate. He barked with the official while slowly making his way to the box. And when he finally stepped in, he threw his stick to the tune of a loud splatter against the wall.

In the final seconds, the Eagles cleared it out of their zone. They missed an empty-net goal by inches. But at that point, there wasn’t enough time for Devils Lake to get it back down the ice. It took a tough but hard-fought one-goal loss in the end.

The Firebirds sit in eighth place in the Eastern Dakota Conference.

“If we can just clean up those small things, it’s gonna be fun going forward,” Swenson said. “We’ve been battling every game; it’s just one or two bad bounces here and there. But at the end of the day, we’re gonna keep working.”