Just as in the first meeting, the Rangers (17-0) struck first less than a minute into the game. St. Dom’s goalie Payton Winslow stopped Ellie Schad 11 seconds in, but couldn’t do the same 10 seconds later against Danita Storey, who cleaned up a loose puck near the left post for a goal.

“We scored early last time, and that was a big key to win that game,” Greely coach Nate Guerin said. “So we wanted to fire up this game, and obviously to break one in that early was very important.”

“That’s a reflection of the young team that we have,” St. Dom’s coach Paul Gosselin said of the early goal. “The first couple of shifts are all nerves.”

The Saints (14-2) were able to knot the game up 1-1 midway through the opening period thanks to the man-advantage. Tia Rotolico took a shot from the right circle and it deflected off a Greely skate and past goalie Nica Todd.

Greely then got a power-play goal of its own to re-take the lead — for good — with just over four minutes left in the first. Courtney Sullivan controlled a rebound of a Storey and shot and beat Winslow at the left post. Sullivan scored again 94 seconds later to put the Rangers up 3-1 after one.

“She’s probably the best in the state,” Guerin said of Sullivan. “She’s big, she’s got reach, she’s strong, and she is absolutely relentless. I haven’t seen another player like her. She’s special. She’s hard to stop.”

Schad didn’t miss the next time she got a scoring chance early in a period, burying a shot from between the circles just 1:45 into the second.

The Saints gained some steam on their second power play of the game, but Todd stood tall with five saves during her team’s two-minute penalty kill.

“When you got an opportunity to get some room and move the puck, I think we do a good job, because that’s really what we do well,” Gosselin said.

The Rangers then got a power play of their own soon after and took advantage of it, with Bridget Roberts finishing at the right post from Storey.

Sullivan completed her hat trick with four minutes left in the second to make it 6-1 Rangers.

Roberts, Storey and Sullivan combined for 11 points in the game.

“You can’t go wrong with those three on the ice,” Guerin said of the trio. “They don’t always play together, but when they do, they’re going to create offense.”

St. Dom’s made it interesting in the third period, however. Isabel Frenette scored early in the frame, and after Sullivan scored her fourth goal, Kristina Cornelio answered 15 seconds later.

“I think we got a little bit of a respite there, and (the girls) came back, redeemed themselves a little bit, put some pucks in the net,” Gosselin said.

Cornelio scored again three minutes later to cut it to 7-4, but Schad put an exclamation point on the Greely victory with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

“We’ve been looking for the 45 minutes of good, strong, simple hockey. I think we got that tonight,” said Guerin, whose North-region leading team finishes up its regular season against South-leading Scarborough on Wednesday. “So the challenge now is to keep that going forward.”

The Saints were looking to avenge their only loss of the season, but had to do so without top-line forward Avery Lutrzykowski, who was out with a concussion.

“Not having a really big bench kind of messed us up a little bit, so we played short,” Gosselin said. “At times I think we were somewhat winded, and at times we actually did well. I was pretty pleased with some of those times, not all of those times.”

The Saints finish up with games against rivals Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland on Wednesday and Lewiston on Saturday. Both games will be at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com