By Jim Bastian

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM — Make it six wins in a row.

The New Ulm Steel scored on two of their four power play attempts and erased an early 2-1 Willmar lead as they skated by the WarHawks 5-2 Friday night at the New Ulm Civic Center in a NA3HL game.

Ryan Smith, Sam Storlie, Kirk Coppock, Nick Wieben and Dylan Boysen scored goals for the Steel, who moved into second place in the Western Division of the NA3HL, one point ahead of Willmar and four points behind division-leading Granite City.

The Steel play in Granite City at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Luc Kreuser, Stephen Mordini, Alec Moser and Jimmy Miller each had assists.

Steel goalie Ryan Kenny had 25 saves as the Steel outshot the WarHawks 43-27 in the game.

“We had a slow start in the first period,” Steel coach Andrew Kolb said. “We progressed as the game went on and we knew that their second goal went off (Steel defenseman) Alec Moser — an unfortunate bounce — and a power play goal so those were two mistakes that we can eliminate right away.”

Those were probably the only two mistakes the Steel made in the game.

They had taken a 1-0 lead on Smith’s eighth goal of the season on a wrap-around shot that beat Willmar goalie Luke Fry at the 4:01 mark.

Willmar then used those two goals for a 2-1 lead.

But that was the last time Willmar got the puck by Kenny.

Storlie’s shot from the low slot on the Steel’s first power play of the night tied the game at 2-2 before Coppock fired his 13th goal of the year when he rebounded Moser’s shot by Fry for a 3-2 lead after the first period.

It was a period where Wilmar launched 11 shots at Kenny.

The last two periods, New Ulm’s defense held the WarHawks to a total of 16 shots.

“We built momentum as the game went on,” Kolb said. “And we got another power play goal in the second period. We kept the pedal to the metal.”

Wieben’s power play goal off an assist from Miller moved the Steel into a 4-2 lead after two periods.

“We were seven for 22 on the power play going into this game. Special teams is a huge part of hockey,” Kolb said. “If you have a good power play it is going to help you a lot and give your team an opportunity to win more games.”

The Steel put the game away midway through the third period when Boysen got his first goal of the year for a 5-2 lead.

“We played a really good hockey game tonight,” Kolb said. “This was one of our best games of the year — everybody was going and contributing. We got two goals from defensemen and some guys who do not play a lot stepped in.”