BIDDEFORD — The Biddeford/Thornton Academy/Wells girls hockey team took a slim 1-goal lead into the third period over visiting York/Marshwood/Traip on Thursday afternoon.

It seemed as if the game would go down to the wire, as the two clubs battled back and forth in the first 30 minutes. However, the Tigers exploded in the final seven minutes to cruise to a 5-0 shutout win over the Wildcats.

“I just think we have a lot of confidence right now in our third periods. We talked about it in the locker room that we’re a third-period team,” said Tigers coach Adam Flynn after the win. “Our goal differential in the first two periods is pretty even but in the third period we’ve been outshooting opponents, we get constant pressure in the zone and it’s been perfect so far.”

Paige Laverriere would get Biddeford on the board late in the first period on a power-play goal. The two clubs would play nearly even throughout the first two periods and into the third.

However, the Tigers would get some breathing room when Jillian Lewis added a score with just under seven minutes left in regulation to make it 2-0.

The Tigers would then go on to get three goals in the final three minutes to break the game open. Captain Katie Monson scored off a rebound at the 2:27 mark, followed by a score from Ailaina Keely just 24 seconds later.

Captain Paige Boudreau would put the exclamation point on the win, sending an open net goal from the opposite blue line with under 20 seconds left to secure the win.

Boudreau, Laverriere, Ainsley Wescott and Ashley Atwater also recorded assists on the day.

“We just did a good job the entire game of wearing them down. They just got tired and we were able to capitalize at the right moment,” said Flynn. “We got good puck movement today which is something we’ve been working on quite a bit. They were doing a good job of getting open, creating their triangles and finding each other.”

The Tigers have had an up-and-down season so far, and improve to 5-4 after Thursday’s win. Flynn hopes that the Tigers will carry the momentum from perhaps their most impressive win to date.

“We know that we can compete with pretty much any team in this league. Hopefully that gives us some momentum moving forward but we’re confident as is. Even when we’ve lost we seem to take something from it. We’re just trying to get better each day and try to improve our weaknesses,” said Flynn.

Thursday’s win also thrusts the Tigers into playoff position. Flynn has been pleased with his young club’s development throughout the year.

“It’s been great — nothing but positive so far,” said Flynn. “We wanted to develop their hockey IQs and now they aren’t just playing offensive hockey, they’re playing defensive hockey, we’re playing neutral zone hockey as well so all three zones are covered. This is the product of all of their hard work.”

— Associate Sports Editor Alex Sponseller can be reached at asponseller@journaltribune.com or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports.

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