For over 40 minutes, Great Northern Conference rivals Marshfield and Point-Rapids skated up and down the ice, battled each other, but couldn't do one thing: put the puck past the other squad's goaltender.

The visiting Tigers got a fluke goal on a deflection off a defenseman's skate and an empty-netter to walk away with a 2-0 win Friday evening at Ice Hawks Arena in Stevens Point.

Both teams appeared to be sluggish in the first period, as the Tigers outshot the host Red Panthers 9-2 but failed to get the puck past netminder Emily Bubla. The Tigers had a 5-on-3 for 1:19 near the end of the period but did not convert.

The second period was a near repeat of the first, with a 10-2 shot edge for the guests. Midway through the period, Morgan Larson almost put Marshfield on the board but her shot from the top of the left circle clanked harmlessly off the left post.

Finally, midway through the third, after the fifth Red Panthers penalty of the evening, the Tigers got on the board while on the power play. Skating behind the goal line on the left side, Molly Schuster tossed the puck into the slot, where it bounced off a Red Panthers defenseman's skate and into the goal for a gift score at 6:16.

It looked like the home team had a good opportunity to tie the score when Marshfield returned the favor just over four minutes later, giving the Red Panthers a 5-on-3 advantage for 76 seconds. But as the hosts did, the Tigers killed off the two-man advantage to keep the score at 1-0.

After a Tigers timeout, Coach Rachael Graves pulled Bubla for the extra attacker, but that back-fired when Larson slid the puck into the empty net with 1:29 left. The hosts held a 10-7 shot edge in the period.

Alexis Straughan notched her third shutout of the year while stopping 14 shots in a winning effort. Bubla stopped 24 of 25 at the other end for Point-Rapids.

Marshfield (11-6-1, 8-1-1) is in a deadlock with Northland Pines for the GNC lead. The Tigers will host the Northern Edge Monday evening, while the Red Panthers (7-10-2, 6-3-1) travel to Lakeland the same night.