Four players scored for Point-Rapids and freshman Brianne Huettner registered a playmaker as the hosts edged Marshfield 4-3 Friday evening at the South Wood County Rec Center in Wisconsin Rapids.

The Red Panthers bared their claws first in the battle of the big cats as Nicole Hassig shoved in a rebound from the low left side past Marshfield goalie Alexis Straughan with just over two minutes left in the first period. Huettner and Rachel Metz earned assists on the play.

When the teams retired to their respective locker rooms 121 seconds later, the home team held the 1-0 lead and a 7-6 shot edge in the period.

Senior Makayla Lee scored her first goal of the year on a smart re-direct of a Huettner shot from the top of the left circle. Lee has seen limited playing time since a knee injury sidelined her before November practice began. Hassig also notched an assist on the play at 5:34 of the period.

Marshfield star defenseman Paige Johnson made her presence known just over five minutes later when she grabbed a pass in the neutral zone, got free from a defender, and sniped one past Red Panther goalie Emily Bubla high on the glove side from the mid-slot to cut the lead to 2-1. Tori Esser earned an assist.

That's how the period would end, with the hosts once again holding the shot advantage at 10-9 in the stanza.

Johnson tied the game for Marshfield at two just 48 seconds into the third period. She led a rush down the right side of the ice and slipped the puck through the goalie's five hole, with an assist to Emily Wolfe.

Marshfield took a penalty just seconds later, and just before the penalty expired, Molly Kuckkahn punched in a rebound at the 2:45 mark to make it 3-2, with assists to Kaitlin "Hollywood" McNamara and Huettner, completing her playmaker.

A few minutes later, Tiger coach Nate Sparbel took a time-out in an effort to rally his troops with over nine minutes left in regulation. Play was pretty even for about five minutes, but then Point-Rapids scored again to regain a two-goal lead.

Sarah Peplinski took advantage of a breakaway and slid a puck past the Marshfield goalie at the 12:13 mark, with an assist to Lee to bump the lead to 4-2.

The Tigers would soon get a man advantage and would capitalize on it. After a Red Panther penalty, it took Char Tierney just 16 seconds of penalty time to knock in the power play rebound. Assists went to Nicole Karl and Jala Zahn with just 3:18 left.

This is where it started to get freaky.

Sparbel was itching to get his goalie off the ice in favor of an extra attacker, but the Red Panthers were able to keep the puck in the Tigers zone.

With 1:26 left, a Point-Rapids penalty gave the Tigers a 5-on-4 advantage, but they wanted one more player in the offensive zone. With about 35 seconds later, Straughan came off, but the extra player left the bench too early and the Tigers were whistled for an illegal substitution penalty, making it 4-on-4.

After a Red Panthers penalty, the last 11 seconds were spent with Marshfield playing 5-on-3 without a goalie, but the Red Panthers were able to thwart the Tigers rush and the buzzer went off with the puck behind the home team's net.

The Red Panthers outshot the Tigers 8-7 in the period.

On the ends of the ice, Bubla stopped 19 of 21 shots to earn the hard-fought win, while Straughan also played well on her end, making 21 saves.

The Red Panthers host the ECA Stars on Thursday, while the Tigers have a quick turnaround and will host Appleton United Saturday afternoon.