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Augsburg 4, Finlandia 1

Augsburg 2 1 1 - 4

Finlandia 0 0 1 - 1

First period - 1, AC, Nick Guran 5 (Joel Sauer, David Hines) 6:26. 2, AC, Guran 6 (Kris Reinthaler) 16:33 (pp). Penalties - AC, Tyler Antony (Interference) 6:29, FU, Justin LaDouce (Tripping) 15:44.

Second period - 3, AC, Reinthaler 1 (Jim Jensen, Antony) 4:00. Penalties - FU, Dan Grille (Hooking) 2:26, AC, Reinthaler (Hooking) 10:24, AC, JP Perpich (Interference) 16:22, FU, Grille (Tripping) 19:01.

Third period - 4, FU, Derek Rodgers 1 (Quinn McIntosh, Eric Schultz) 16:41 (pp). 5, AC, Sauer 3 (Jensen) 19:12. Penalties - AC, Mario Mjelleli (Roughing) 2:12, AC, John Lennartson (Roughing) 9:20, FU, Jimmy Brey (Roughing) 9:20, AC, Reinthaler (Hooking) 15:39.

Shots on goal - AC, 11-12-10-33. FU, 11-5-16-32

Power-play opportunities - AC 2 of 3; FU 1 of 5.

Goalies - AC, Nate Pellegrino (32 shots, 31 saves). FU, Ryan Donovan (33 shots, 29 saves.

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HANCOCK - It doesn't take much to lose a hockey game.

One little mistake here, one little mistake there, can mean the difference between victory and defeat. Finlandia found this out the hard way Tuesday night.

And while the struggling Lions played one of their best games under interim head coach Chris Salani, a couple of those little miscues still resulted in a 4-1 non-conference loss to Augsburg.

Finlandia gave up two goals in the opening 20 minutes. Nick Guran netted both to put Augsburg up by two heading to the second.

"Actually I thought the first period was a pretty sound period," Salani said. "We made some modifications in tactics to what they were doing.

"We worked for the last two weeks on playing a patient game and Augsburg came out and played a true road game. They were real passive to start and we were a little jumpy.

"We had to calm ourselves down and run what we could run. But we made some mistakes they took advantage of, particularly with transitional play through the neutral zone.

"Their second goal came on the PP (power play) and again it's just a modification of what we've been doing. We need to recognize where we are at on the ice and get into shooting lanes."

The power-play goal by Guran was the first of two on the night for Augsburg. Kris Reinthaler's goal with the man advantage four minutes into the second put Augsburg up by three after two.

The Lions had a chance to cut into the lead with a couple of power-play chances of their own. But Finlandia couldn't convert with the man advantage and the lead remained at three.

The Lions finally broke through late in the third after Salani pulled the goaltender. Derek Rodgers' tally at the 16:41 mark pulled the Lions to within two at 3-1.

Salani pulled the goaltender a couple of more times after the goal by Rodgers to try to cut further into the lead. But Finlandia failed to score again and Joel Sauer added an empty-netter for Augsburg to complete the scoring.

"If it (the deficit) was inside two goals no (Salani wouldn't have pulled the goalie), but three goals at that time, statisticians point out there are certain equations you follow and you need that much time to get it (scoring three goals) done, so we were fortunate to have the opportunity to convert one there," Salani said. "It's about pressure and momentum and I thought at that time we had some good opportunities getting the puck low on them and it was a good time to pull the goalie."

K.D. Warvie can be reached at kwarvie@mininggazette.com.