The Mankato East Cougars brought a physical style of play to town, and it took the Albert Lea Tigers a while to adjust.

Once they did, it wasn’t even close.

The Tigers, held scoreless in the first period, exploded for four second-period goals and went on to a 6-0 Big Nine Conference girls’ hockey victory at the City Arena Thursday night.

&uot;We’ve got three solid lines we can throw out there, and tonight we did that,&uot; said Tigers coach Mike Miller. &uot;It was a great effort.&uot;

It was the conference opener for the Tigers, who lost their season opener 4-1 Tuesday to preseason section favorite New Ulm.

Like New Ulm, East was a very physical team that gave Albert Lea some trouble in the first period. The Tigers’ best chances came early in the first period, but East also had its share of opportunities as Albert Lea held a 7-6 edge in shots.

The Cougars went on a power play just 55 seconds into the second period, but it was the Tigers who capitalized when Laura Hillman scored unassisted at the 1:20 mark.

East continued to apply pressure, but goalie Danika Porter was there every time for the save.

Brittany Arendt made it 2-0 at 7:15, scoring unassisted after an impressive end-to-end rush.

Less than two minutes later, at 8:48, Heather Bagley scored on a nice centering pass from Lindsey Sorenson.

East got another power play at 10:36 but again Porter and the Tigers killed it and, seconds after it expired, Tessa Chris-tensen scored on a low wrist shot from just inside the blue line.

The Tigers took the momentum into the third period, with Sarah Jensen scoring at 2:08 on assists from Sorenson and Bagley.

Christensen added an unassisted goal at 4:50.

The Tigers have a nonconference game Saturday at 3 p.m. against Robbinsdale Cooper.