Kingsford senior Jaxon Buckley is denied by Escanaba junior goaltender Cully Hayes during the third period of Tuesday’s matchup at the Hannahville Ice & Turf Complex. Buckley would later get one past Hayes for the Flivvers’ lone goal in a 4-1 loss. (Ron Deuter photo)

WELLS — Kingsford put up a much improved showing against Escanaba than they did in the season opener when they were mercy-ruled in two periods, but a 3-0 first-period hole proved too much to overcome in a 4-1 Great Lakes Hockey Conference loss Tuesday evening at the Hannahville Ice & Turf Complex.

“They’re good. They’re No. 6 in the state for a reason,” Flivvers assistant coach Dennis Murvich said, speaking on behalf of head coach Greg Wadge, who missed the game due to an out-of-town work commitment. “They capitalize on mistakes. They’ve got some guys that can snipe, and when you screw up against them, they make you pay for it for sure.”

Both teams came in shorthanded due to illness. The Flivvers (6-9-0) were without sophomore forward Jack Spreen, who is among the team leaders with eight goals on the season, and the Eskymos (10-6-0) played without junior defenseman Nolan Bink and freshman forward Gunnar LaMarche.

Escanaba junior Graham Johnson opened the scoring at 8:53 of the first, and then freshman Griffin Johnson and junior Ben Sands scored roughly a minute apart late in the frame to give the home team all they would need to snap the Flivvers’ two-game win streak.

The Eskymos outshot Kingsford 17-5 in the fateful first period, but the Flivvers held an 18-14 edge the rest of the way.

“I thought we were tentative again in the first period but after that, I thought our boys battled back hard in the second, and I think we had the better of the scoring chances in the third,” Murvich said.

Graham Johnson’s second goal of the game, on a power play at 3:57 of the second, put Esky up 4-0. It wasn’t until 12:10 of the third that Kingsford finally broke through when sophomore Seth Greenleaf fed senior Jaxon Buckley, who broke free across the blue line and beat Escanaba junior netminder Cully Hayes up high.

“Give credit to Cully,” Murvich said. “You know, Bucks makes a heck of a play and gets us one on the board anyway, but there were two or three glorious scoring chances that we just couldn’t put in.

“Credit to their goalie. That’s just a very good team.”

Hayes, among the best goalies in the conference this season with a 2.46 goals against average, finished with 22 saves. Kingsford junior goalie Nate Scullon finished with 27 saves, which included not missing a beat after taking a hard blast square off his facemask in the second period.

The schedule doesn’t ease for Kingsford, as the Flivvers head north to face Marquette (10-7-0) for the first time this season tonight.