With the sloppy road conditions Thursday night the Albert Lea girls’ hockey team must have felt like it was spinning its wheels on the ice as well.

The Tigers (7-9-1, 2-1-1 Big Nine) outshot Owatonna 18-9 in the first period but trailed the Huskies 2-0 at the end of the period at City Arena.

Owatonna (11-6-2, 4-1 Big Nine) took advantage of Albert Lea mistakes quickly in the first period with the stick of Cailyn McCauley.

McCauley scored the first of her three goals 1 minute, 38 seconds into the game when she was left alone on the back post to hammer a rebound into the net.

Later in the first McCauley intercepted an Albert Lea pass at Owatonna’s blue line during a power play and she skated down the rink from a goal to make it 2-0 in the game’s first four minutes.

The Tigers had several opportunities to score during the first period, but against good teams Albert Lea has struggled to score goals. The Tigers were shutout by West, tied Austin, despite 51 shots on goal, and have played four overtime games.

“We’ve been struggling all year with someone being in that slot area,” said Albert Lea head coach Brian Blatti. “The shots are there, we just don’t capitalize on the rebounds.”

Whatever momentum the Tigers gained from the first period it quickly faded in the second period. Albert Lea drew three penalties and spent nearly half of the period on the penalty kill.

“Penalties hurt us that second period and drained us and they were able to capitalize on it,” Blatti said. “Our penalty kill was out there way too much and we weren’t playing our positions as we should.”

Owatonna held just a 33-30 edge in shots, but the difference was finishing. The Huskies buried their quality scoring chances while the Tigers were left on the doorstep.

“We can stick with them but we gotta make sure we’re following through all three periods,” Blatti said.

Albert Lea travels to Rochester Saturday to play Mayo.

Owatonna 3, Albert Lea 0

Owatonna 2 0 1 — 3

Albert Lea 0 0 0 — 0

First Period—1, Owatonna, Cailyn McCauley (Emily Cochran, Taylor Disher), 1:38. 2, Owatonna, McCauley (Paige Lysne), 3:09. Penalties—Lauren Draayer, Alb (tripping), 9:16; Cochran, Owa (interference), 13:08.

Second Period—None. Penalties—Mariah Leach, Alb (tripping), 3:02; Anna Anderson, Alb (cross checking), 9:10; Lauren Klick, Alb (tripping), 13:04.

Third Period—3, Owatonna, McCauley (Marley Hunt), 1:56. Penalties—Tasha Moyer, Alb (tripping), 3:10; Aimee Goodew, Owa (slashing), 9:22; Madi Passingham, Alb (hooking), 12:17; Alyssa Holcomb, Owa (hooking), 15:21.

Shots on Goal—Owatonna 9-18-6—33. Albert Lea 18-4-8—30.

Goalies—Owatonna, Keshia Reuvers (30 shots-30 saves). Albert Lea, Sidney Conley (33-30).