Benilde-St. Margaret's scored three unanswered goals to come from behind and beat its Section 6 rivals from Minnetonka, 3-2, at the St. Louis Park Rec Center Saturday night.

Christian Horn found Grant Besse wide open at the back door with eight minutes left, and Besse buried it for the eventual game winner. Junior goaltender Anders Jecha then made a game-saving glove stop in the closing minute to preserve the victory.

"Kind of fitting it came down to that," Red Knights coach Ken Pauly said. "I was hoping it would end easy but it didn't. We could easily be in overtime if not for Jecha right now."

The Skippers got on the board first. After they barely missed on a 2-on-1 attempt, the puck rebounded off the boards behind the net and trickled back in the crease, where a wide-open Erik Baskin made it 1-0 midway through the first period.

Even before that goal, the contest was heated, which was expected of the neighborly rivals. Several scrums in front of the Skippers' net led to numerous penalties and odd-man-advantages.

The physical play got Benilde-St. Margaret's into serious penalty trouble. One after the other, Red Knights players seemed to march toward the box — and finally they paid the price.

Midway through the second period, with the Skippers on the power play, Max Coatta collected a rebound in front of the Red Knights' net and scored to put Minnetonka up 2-0.

"I thought it was undisciplined, sloppy and losing hockey," Pauly said. "We're very fortunate to win taking that many penalties in a row against Minnetonka."

However, penalty minutes began racking up on the Skippers' side, too, and being a man short took its toll on Minnetonka as well.

"I thought our effort was great tonight," Skippers coach Joe Urick said. "I think our only issue is our penalties. We're giving the other teams too many chances and we're wearing our guys down."

With Minnetonka struggling, Benilde's Dan Labosky slipped in the Red Knights' first goal through the five-hole with six minutes left in the second period.

Less than a minute later, junior forward Nick Lauth found himself open in front of the net and cranked home a one-timer, which got the home crowd going and tied the game at 2-2.

The third period had just one goal — Besse's seventh of the year, which won the game for Benilde St. Margaret's.

Jecha stopped 24 shots in the victory. The Red Knights stormed their goaltender after the win, which moved them to 5-0.

Maple Grove and Eden Prairie are next on the docket for the Red Knights. Benilde-St. Margaret's will travel to Maple Grove on Tuesday for a 7:30pm start.

"If you want to be considered for real, you've got to beat those teams," Pauly said. "It ramps up the excitement quite a bit."