BROOKINGS – The Blizzard scored first against the MN Wilderness in a battle for second place in the Central Division, but the Wilderness rallied with two unanswered goals for a 2-1 win on Friday at Larson Ice Center.

The win pushes the Wilderness’ point total to 56 points, with a 25-16-4-2 mark, while the Blizzard remain in third place with 52 points (24-18-3-1).

After a scoreless first period, Chase Gamelin’s goal with 9:42 to play in the first spotted the Blizzard the lead as Brenden Stanko and Brandon Kruse picked up the assists.

But the Wilderness’ Tristan Rostagno cashed in on a power-play chance with just 59 seconds remaining in the period to send the game into the second intermission tied at 1-1. Jesse Farabee and Michael Zuffante assisted on the goal.

The Wilderness took the lead for good three minutes into the final period when Nick Altmann lit the lamp off a Gunnar Goodmanson setup and despite holding an 11-8 advantage in shots over the final 20 minutes, the Blizzard couldn’t get one to find the back of the net.

For the game, Brookings outshot the Wilderness, 35-32, as Trevor Micucci finished with 34 saves for the win in goal. Josh Boyko stopped 30 Wilderness shots in the loss.

The two teams square off again tonight at LIC with the puck dropping at 7:05 p.m.