On a night where the visiting team arrived late but started early, the Northland Pines Eagles moved closer to their second straight Great Northern Conference title with a 1-0 win over the Point-Rapids Red Panthers Friday at the South Wood County Rec Center.

The game time was pushed back 20 minutes due the late arrival of the Eagles, but they got off to a quick start with the game's only goal in the first four minutes of play.

Playing on ice that was less than perfect because of failure of two of the rink's compressors the night before, the Eagles took advantage of a turnover behind the Red Panthers net to score the contest's only goal while on the power play.

Allyson Sima grabbed the puck and zipped a pass over to Emily Saltenberger just below the left circle and the Eagles' tallest player snapped a shot between the left post and blocker of Red Panthers goalie Emily Bubla at 3:14 of the first.

Pines outshot the home team 8-3 in the first.

Point-Rapids had two power play chances in the second, but failed to convert as their man advantage drought continues, now showing one goal in 35 opportunities this season. However, they did outshoot Pines 9-5 in the stanza. Those numbers did not include two crossbars by Pines shooters in the period.

A clock malfunction in the last 30 seconds of the second caused momentary chaos, but quick thinking by the timekeeper allowed her to start the stopwatch on her cellphone and count off the final seconds before the refs stopped play.

Pines had an early power play chance in the third, but did not score. There was a scrum near the Pines goal where Red Panthers' Rachel Metz appeared to have scored, but the puck was not judged to have crossed the goal line and Pines maintained the shutout.

Bubla came out for an extra attacker with just under two minutes left, but returned just 12 seconds later for a face-off just outside the Red Panthers d-zone. She left for a second time a minute later and despite a wild scramble and a loose puck at the other end, Pines skated off with the 1-0 victory.

Shots were 8-7 in favor of the hosts in the final period.

Jenna Paez stopped 20 shots in the win for her fifth shutout of the season, while Bubla made 19 saves on the other end for Point-Rapids.

Pines improves to 14-4 overall, while having a spotless 9-0 mark in the GNC. The Red Panthers drop to 9-7-2 (8-2 GNC).