After trailing 5-2, the Rochester Ice Hawks rallied to within a goal of the Steele County Blades on Saturday night at the Rochester Recreation center.
But the Ice Hawks couldn't quite tie it up and suffered a 5-4 Minnesota Junior Hockey League loss.
The Ice Hawks have lost five of their last six games, though four of the losses have come by one goal each.
Rochester has one final home game before hitting the road for a long stretch. The Ice Hawks host the Maple Grove Energy at 7 p.m. Saturday. After that, the Ice Hawks play five consecutive road games, and eight of their final nine regular-season games are on the road.
After the team's latest loss, the Ice Hawks sank to 17-12-0-7 in MnJHL play. They're currently in fifth place, which would put them on the road for the opening round of the Bush Cup playoffs.
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The Ice Hawks scored first Saturday and held a 2-1 lead after the second period. But the Blades scored two goals in the second and two more to start the third, giving them a 5-2 lead. The Ice Hawks scored twice to close the game but were unable to force overtime with a third tally.
Trever Sabo converted on the power play 5:32 into the opening period, with Trey McMillen and Nick Paulson collecting assists.
Paulson scored a goal of his own late in the period, finishing a pass from Ludo Duncko. Kory Aymer also had an assist on the tally.
The Ice Hawks did not score again until the 13:47 mark of the third. Vinnie Susi scored on the power play, with assists to Drew Cleereman and Duncko.
Susi scored again two minutes later, and Paulson picked up his third point with another assist.
The Blades once again hurt the Ice Hawks on the power play. They converted 3 of 5 power-play chances.
Corey Grummick took the loss in goal. He stopped 26 of 31 shots.
The Ice Hawks held a 36-31 edge in shots on goal.
