ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- Scoring four goals in the second period to break the game open, the Augsburg University men's hockey team improved its lead in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings with a 7-4 win over Saint John's University on Thursday evening.

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Augsburg 7, Saint John's 4
LOCATION: Herb Brooks National Hockey Center, St. Cloud, Minn.
RECORDS: Augsburg 15-7-0 overall (9-4-0 MIAC), Saint John's 12-6-2 overall (7-4-0 MIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Alex Rodriguez (JR, Miami, Fla./Shattuck-St. Mary's (Minn.) HS) scored two power-play goals, his second multi-goal game of the season, to lead the Auggies in the win. Jake Larson (JR, St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville HS) also scored two goals, marking his first multi-goal game as an Auggie. He scored a power-play goal and added an empty-net goal in the final minute.
• Rodriguez's second goal and Larson's first goal both came during a five-minute major penalty against Saint John's, part of a four-goal Auggie outburst in the second period. Augsburg went 3-for-6 on the power play in the game, its third game with three power-play goals this season.
• Fourteen different Auggies figured in the scoring. Lukas Gillett (JR, Rosemount, Minn./Rosemount HS), Gunnar Goodmanson (FY, Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo HS) and Drew Anderson (SR, Rochester, Minn./Century HS) also scored goals for the Auggies.
• Nate Flynn (SR, Hastings, Minn./Hastings HS), Chandler Madry (JR, Bakersfield, Calif./Fairbanks (Alaska) BEST HS) and Max Pernhem (SR, Stockholm, Sweden/Dragonskolan) had two assists each for the Auggies.
• Augsburg outshot Saint John's by a 38-34 margin, including a 17-5 advantage in the first period.
• Nick Schmit (JR, Fargo, N.D./Fargo North HS) had 30 saves in goal for Augsburg.

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
• With the win, Augsburg claimed a five-point lead in the MIAC standings with 27 league points. Augsburg has three games remaining in its regular season.
• With their two assists each, Flynn and Madry claimed the top two spots in total points among MIAC players in overall statistics. Flynn leads the MIAC's points table with 25 (12 goals, 13 assists), while Madry is second with 24 points (five goals, 19 assists), with his 19 assists tops among MIAC players.

FOR THE FOES
• Sam Valerius and Brady Heppner scored two goals each for Saint John's. Heppner had a shorthanded goal in the third period. Robb Stautz had two assists in the game.
• Andrew Lindgren had 22 saves in goal in the first two periods for the Johnnies, with Mac Berglove collecting nine saves in the third period.

UP NEXT
• The teams complete the MIAC series on Friday (2/2) at 7 p.m. at Augsburg's Ed Saugestad Rink.