A four-goal period turned out to be a good thing for the Albert Lea Thunder.

Albert Lea scored four times Friday in the second period against North Iowa in Mason City and still lost. This time the Thunder made sure it held up.

The Thunder won for the sixth time this season as they beat North Iowa 5-3 Saturday at the City Arena.

Albert Lea (6-18-2) moved to within three points of Alexandria for fourth place in the division by picking up its first home victory since Oct. 3.

Albert Lea scored four goals in the first 5 minutes of the game and and held on for its first victory in six tries and last since March 8 of last season against the Outlaws despite getting outshot in the game.

Chris Cass scored 16 seconds into the game and the Thunder went on to add goals from Alex Niestrom, Brian Nehring and Niko Kapetanovic in the first period for a 4-0 lead. This time a four-goal period led to a victory, unlike Friday night when Albert Lea scored four times in the second period and lost 5-4 to the Outlaws.

The first period was the highlight for the Thunder for Thunder head coach Chuck Linkenheld, but the final two periods left something to be desired. After the first 5 minutes of the game Albert Lea was outscored 3-1.

“It was nice to have that hold up but our standards are set higher than that,” Linkenheld said.

Linkenheld has worked to clean up the mess of a team he took over as head coach Oct. 20 and he’s starting to see the results on the ice. Albert Lea is 2-1 in its last three games.

“If the players and the coaches do what’s right, good things will happen,” Linkenheld said. “I told the players, ‘Don’t be happy with winning a couple of games. We need to set our sights higher.’”

Linkenheld has established a competitive atmosphere in practice where players are fighting for ice time in games and that’s helped the team to play at its recent level.

Cass is one of the players who has elevated his play recently. After rejoining the team in October Cass played sparingly, but has proven he deserved a spot since playing on a regular basis. Cass scored his second goal of the game when he scored on a Thunder power play at 4:23 of the third period to give Albert Lea a 5-2 lead. His second goal gave him six points in his last three games, including goals in the previous three games.

Lucas Dillon scored at 15:15 for North Iowa to make it a 5-3 final.

North Iowa outshot the Thunder 34 to 31 in the game and Nehring scored a shorthanded goal for the second consecutive game.

Albert Lea did a better job of shutting down the Outlaws in its own zone and it avoided giving up power-play goals. North Iowa went 0 for 4 in the game.

Joe Rogers won for the fourth time this season and turned away 31 of the shots he faced in his first game back from an ankle injury he suffered Nov. 14 against Alexandria.

The victory gives the Thunder some momentum heading into this weekend. Albert Lea has a two-game set with Central Division leader Bismarck at the City Arena.

Albert Lea 5, North Iowa 3

North Iowa 1 1 1 — 3

Albert Lea 4 0 1 —  5

First Period—1, Albert Lea, Chris Cass 4 (Brett Meyers), :16. 2, Albert Lea, Alex Niestrom 5 (Niko Kapetanovic), 2:05. 3, Albert Lea, Brian Nehring 5 (Matt Johnson), 4:19 (sh.). 4, Albert Lea, Kapetanovic 9 (Niestrom, Derek Docken), 9:58. 5, North Iowa, Micky Knox 9 (Lucas Dillon, Derek Loisel), 10:32. Penalties—Danny Wood, Alb (slashing), 2:34; Zac Frischmon, Nor (delay of game), 17:24; Kapetanovic, Alb (hooking), 18:45.

Second Period—6, North Iowa, Ryan Bohrer 7 (Matt Bloomquist), 9:06. Penalties—Tommy Robaczewski, Alb (interference), 2:55; Taylor Ward, Alb (tripping), 11:39; Derek Loisel, Nor (roughing), 13:27; Brad Phenow, Alb (roughing), 13:27.

Third Period—7, Albert Lea, Cass 5 (Docken, Robaczewski), 4:23 (pp.). 8, North Iowa, Dillon 5 (Knox, Loisel), 15:15. Penalties—Scott Bell, Nor (slashing), 2:23; Frischmon, Nor (hooking), 9:20; Robbie Anderegg, Nor (hooking), 10:53.

Shots on Goal—North Iowa 13-15-6—34. Albert Lea 14-11-6—31.

Power-play opportunities—North Iowa 0 of 4; Albert Lea 1 of 4.

Goalies—North Iowa, Paul Moberg 8-9-1 (14 shots, 10 saves), Trent Caspar 0-0-0 (17 shots, 16 saves). Albert Lea, Joe Rogers 4-9-2 (34 shots, 31 saves).

A— 300. T—2:00

Referee—Andrew Wilk. Linesmen—Colin Besch, Matthew Tyree.