WELLS — The Escanaba Eskymos stuck to the basics here Friday night in a 6-1 hockey victory over the Calumet Copper Kings.

Senior forward Graham Johnson scored a hat trick in this contest, getting his first goal on a shot from the high slot for a 3-1 lead slightly more than halfway through the second period at the Hannahville Ice & Turf Complex.

“When Graham came in and cut across the offensive zone, he hit that goal,” Esky coach Andy Johnson said. “That was important. We carried that momentum through the rest of the game. We wanted to play simple hockey and do the little things well, and we did that.”

A shot from Graham Johnson which went into the net and quickly bounced outt, gave the Eskymos a 4-1 cushion 6:41 in the third stanza.

Graham completed his hat trick with a shorthanded goal on a breakaway for a 5-1 advantage approximately three minutes later.

“We didn’t do anything particularly well,” Calumet coach Dan Giachino said. “Our intensity and effort weren’t at the level we needed. We got outworked and outplayed for 51 minutes. They have a good team. They kept coming at us. They didn’t let up and took it to us.”

Ben Sands concluded the scoring with 4:17 left to play, helping the Eskymos improve to 4-3.

Freshman forward Chase Korpi scored from the slot just 82 seconds into the contest and sophomore forward Nick Martinson gave the Eskymos a two-goal cushion at 4:54.

Junior defenseman Lewis Nagel scored Calumet’s goal on a rebound 5:55 into the second frame.

“After the first period we knew Calumet was going to come out and give us a game,” coach Johnson said. “We needed to get back to what we were doing in the first period, and I think we wore them down in the third.”

Friday’s game marked the return of Martinson from a broken finger and senior forward Keagan Braun, who broke his shoulder blade in football.

“Nick’s speed really helped us,” coach Johnson said. “It was nice for him to get that first goal. Cully Hayes did a great job in net and Keagan was able to slow them down.

The Copper Kings finished with a 29-28 shots on goal edge.

Esky senior Cully Hayes stopped 28 shots and junior goaltender Beau Jukuri had 23 saves for Calumet.

“We’ve got to work on everything,” Giachino said. “This is not the way we played before this game. They changed things up in the third period.”

Both teams play again Tuesday. Esky hosts Hancock, and Calumet hosts Painesdale Jeffers.

Calumet 0 1 0 — 1

Escanaba 2 1 3 — 6

Scoring plays

First period

E — Korpi (Martinson), 1:22

E — Martinson (Korpi), 4:54

Second period

C — Nagel (Anderson, Londo), 5:53

E — Graham Johnson (Griffen Johnson), 9:54

Third period

E — Graham Johnson (Sands), 6:41

E — Graham Johnson (Sands)

E — Sands (Graham Johnson, Sholten), 12:43

Shots on goal: Calumet 29, Escanaba 28

Goaltender saves: Escanaba (Hayes 28), Calumet (Jukuri 23)

Power plays: Calumet 0-3, Escanaba 0-2

Penalty minutes: Calumet 2-4, Escanaba 3-6.