FROM STAFF REPORTS
TRAVERSE CITY -- In retrospect, Friday night's humbling 7-1 loss to Marquette was "the best thing that could have happened" to the Traverse City North Stars.
That, according to coach Anthony Palumbo, after Traverse City came back to win the three-game weekend series with a 5-3 victory Sunday.
The North Stars won 7-3 Saturday night.
"It was a very good response," Palumbo said. "It was a tough night Friday. The guys showed a lot of pride in coming back.
"If anything, we learned a lot from watching Marquette play on Friday night. Marquette played a great team game against us. I thought we were too individualistic Friday night. So we made an effort to do things as a team. That was a big reason why we turned things around."
The North Stars (31-19-5) are now two points ahead of Marquette in the North American Hockey League's North Division with three games remaining. Janesville is five points back and has a game in hand.
"Just based on how things have gone all year, I'm not surprised," Palumbo said of the tight race. "No one has been able to really run away with it. We're very evenly matched with Marquette and Janesville."
Traverse City travels to Marquette on Thursday.
"They play very well in their building," Palumbo said of the Rangers. "They're a good team. We're going to have to be ready."
The North Stars finish the regular season next weekend with a two-game set with Alpena.
Traverse City jumped out to a 1-0 lead Sunday when Kyle Jean knocked in a rebound just a little over four minutes into the game.
The Rangers netted the next three goals to put the North Stars in a hole.
"We were down 3-1, but we were still playing pretty well," Palumbo said. "We made a couple mistakes that cost us. I thought we were still carrying a little bit of the play."
Chris Heineman responded with a power play goal, about a minute after Marquette's third tally, and sudeenly the North Stars were back in it.
"Our power play has shown real nice signs of effectiveness the last couple games because it hasn't been great all year," Palumbo said. "That was a big goal for us."
The Stars continued to apply pressure and they finally broke through with three third periuod goals.
"We stuck with our game plan," Palumbo said. "We were playing well. (Marquette goalie Kevin) Kissaw made some unbelievable saves to keep it 3-2. To our guys credit, we stuck with the game plan, kept working hard and we were able to carry lot of the play in the third and get it done."
Alec Shields tied the game, then Heineman scored the game-winner. Tim Opie followed with an insurance tally.
Traverse City outshot Marquette 38-15. Drew Strandberg was in goal.
Like Saturday night, The North Stars spread the scoring out.
"We're getting good contributions from everybody," Palumbo said. "That's the one thing about our team. When we're playing well we've got more than one threat. That's when we've been most effective -- when the scoring is spread out and everybody is pitching in."
