ROSEMOUNT, Minn. — Goalie Joe Morris saved 17 of 19 shots on goal to earn his first collegiate win as the backbone for the No. 7-ranked St. Thomas men’s hockey team in its 5-2 victory over Finlandia (Mich.) Friday night at Rosemount Ice Arena.

The Tommies (9-2-2) fell behind 2-1 early but scored three goals in a 2:11 span late in the second period, two buried home by forward Thomas Williams. Coach Jeff Boeser said although the Tommies finished strong, he was disappointed with how the team performed in the first 32 minutes.

“When we decide to play, as you can see, we play pretty well,” Boeser said. “But we weren’t mentally ready to play this game, so that’s what I’m disappointed about, but I like the end; hopefully it’s a lesson.”

With 13:16 left in the first period, Finlandia (1-11-1) forward Shigenobu Kakudate went between his legs with the puck and fired a shot on goal that deflected off Lion forward Ryan Daavettila’s skate and into the back of the net to give Finlandia a 1-0 lead.

Three minutes later, St. Thomas forward Jordan Lovick responded by ripping a shot on net off the faceoff to score his first goal of the season and knot the score 1-1.

Finlandia answered back four minutes later when forward Jared Vincek deflected a shot from the point through the 5-hole of Morris to give the Lions a 2-1 lead. Williams said he was pleased with Morris’ effort in his first collegiate game.

“I thought he did great. There was a couple tough bounces right away; we had a couple turnovers,” Williams said. “But he had a huge breakaway save in the second, and he was our backbone tonight; it was good to see.”

Late in the second period, Williams scored the game-tying and game-winning goal on assists from forward Alex Altenbernd, defenseman Steve Sorensen, forward Nick Nielsen and defenseman Johnny Roisum. Morris said he was proud of his team’s effort late in the second period.

“The lead’s huge, especially when you’re a new goalie. Sometimes self-doubt just kind of creeps in,” Morris said. “When your team’s scoring goals like that and putting the team up, it erases those thoughts and helps me play better and play my game.”

St. Thomas added another goal just minutes later on a rebound that Nielsen gathered and finished in the back of the net. Boeser said his team woke up in the second period and started competing.

“They weren’t competing in the first 32 minutes– sweep checks, not playing through their man,” Boeser said. “I’ll give a lot of credit to No. 12, our leader, he started a couple heavy body checks and that seemed to spark the team and give us some emotion, so I’d put it all on our captain he was a great leader tonight.”

Early in the third period defenseman, Jeremy Hepler’s slapshot from the point ricocheted in front of the net where forward Connor McBride scooped it up and chipped in another goal for the Tommies to give them their final goal and a 5-2 lead.

St. Thomas outshot Finlandia 35-19 on the game, and Boeser hopes the momentum will carry into Saturday.

“I would hope that the result we had the last 28 minutes will wake them up and have them ready when the puck drops tomorrow,” Boeser said. “We haven’t had a game at home in while so we’re actually really excited about that as well.”

St. Thomas hosts Wisconsin-Superior Saturday night as the team shoots for its 10th win of the 2013-2014 season.

Kyle Jonas can be reached at jona7984@stthomas.edu.