DULUTH, Minn. — Heading into Thursday night’s matchup with the St. Scholastica Saints, the Finlandia Lions men’s hockey team had four games left to try to make up two points and pass the Saints in the NCHA standings, which would put them into a playoff spot. With their fates in their own hands, the Lions also went brimming with confidence at getting captain Connor Hannon and Tommy Peterson back.

After an 8-1 loss, that window appears to be a lot closer to closed as Finlandia fell back to three points behind the Saints for the final spot.

The Lions gave up two goals in the first and four in the second and found themselves down 6-0 before head coach Joe Burcar pulled junior goaltender Marcus Gloss for freshman Ben Kelsch. The results remained much the same as the Lions scored once before giving up two more tallies.

Sophomore winger Teddy Randell scored the Lions’ lone tally on the power play at 1:05 of the third off a feed from defenseman Cory Richardson.

Despite the loss, Burcar believes in his group.

“You control your own destiny,” Burcar said. “We’ve spent a year dealing with injuries. We’ve done enough to keep ourselves in a position where we can control our destiny.”

Despite losing players like Mikko Surekin to an injury in his first weekend in Blue and White, and the various nagging injuries Hannon and Gloss have suffered from throughout the season, Burcar feels like his group can still be competitive.

“Most of the teams, at this time of the year, you should be expected to be somewhat banged up and bruised, but we’ve dealt with some pretty significant injuries this year,” he said. “We have to understand that we are going to put our best foot forward and we’re going to play guys that are banged up.”

With the rash of injuries, players have had to step into roles they might not be comfortable with, and Burcar is pleased with the results, despite the lack of wins.

“We sure got experience, and you want that to play into it,” Burcar said. “This group is fun to coach. They’re fun to be around. They’re just a good group. They get better every day.

“Yes, we’ve dealt with the injuries and you’re always constantly adjusting (defensive) pairings (and the) lineup up front. You have to give them credit for the resiliency they have right now as a young group: four seniors, three juniors. They play in such a good league that there’s no given night that you can look at your schedule and say, “I can get some points as on this night.’ For what they’ve been able to do … the distance we’ve come from where we were to where we are today, it’s not even comparable.”

The Lions are back in action Friday night against the Saints at the Houghton County Arena. With the win Thursday, the Saints ended a 10-game losing streak.

The Saints are led by Nate Pionk, who has team-highs in assists (10) and points (15). Carson Rose has also had a strong season, scoring a team-high nine goals and 14 points.

Zane Steeves has seen more than half the action between the pipes, going 6-6-1 in 15 appearances with a 2.63 goals against average and a .918 save percentage.

Friday night’s faceoff between the Lions and Saints is set for 7:15 p.m. at the Houghton County Arena.