WELLS — Their start may have been a little shaky, but the Escanaba Eskymos found a way to earn a 6-3 hockey victory over the Kingsford Flivvers Thursday night at the Hannahville Ice & Turf Complex.

Esky drew two minor penalties in the opening 82 seconds of this Great Lakes Conference match-up, but were able to kill a 5-on-3 power play for 74 seconds and keep the Flivvers from scoring through the remainder.

“We did a good job killing that off,” said Esky coach Matt Hughes. “I thought that gave us a lot of energy. It was good to see the guys improve from our first game (in Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to Marquette). It’s always good to get the first win of the season. This is a good confidence builder for them.”

Esky senior forward Christer Carne provided a hat trick, including the team’s first goal on a rebound five minutes, four seconds into the contest.

Kingsford drew a pair of roughing penalties in the following 1:43 and senior defenseman Chris Sliva cashed in on a slapshot from inside the right faceoff circle for a 2-0 lead during a 5-on-3 power play.

“We put a lot of focus on special teams,” said Hughes. “It was good for the guys to put the puck in the back of the net.”

The Flivvers scored two shorthanded goals, including one by junior forward Trey Bociek at 8:21 of the first.

Esky responded on the power play 30 seconds later, making it 3-1 on junior forward Ethan Silverstone’s shot from the far left crease.

“From our vantage point, we couldn’t see where it came from,” said Hughes. “Sometimes it just pays to put the puck toward the net.”

A shorty from the slot by junior forward Reece Fortner brought the Flivvers within 3-2 at 15:24 of the second period.

Esky regained its’two-goal cushion in the midst of a scramble during which junior forward Grant Wickham hit a buzzer-beater from the doorstep at the end of the second.

“That was brutal,” said Kingsford coach Dennis Murvich. “We thought the buzzer went off before the shot, but the officials saw it different. This was a tough game. There was no flow at all. It seemed like every time we’d get something going, we’d jump back into the (penalty) box.

“Our power play was terrible, although that’s on me. When they held off our early 5-on-3, it was a big momentum switch.”

Kingsford also appeared to have a five-minute power play early in the third, but that ended with a minor infraction of its own 3:36 into the sequence.