Staff photo by Steve Muscatello New Ulm Steel forward Keegan Bauman (right) tries to get past an Alexandria Blizzard defender during the first period Friday at the New Ulm Civic Center.

NEW ULM — Going into their NA3HL game with Alexandria, the New Ulm Steel held a slim 2-point lead for third place in the West Division over the Blizzard.

Both teams are now tied.

Alexandria scored two second-period goals and then added a goal in the third period as they erased an early 1-0 New Ulm lead to down the Steel 3-1 Friday night at the New Ulm Civic Center.

Dylan Carlson, Nolan Westra and Cole Jacobs scored goals for the Blizzard (14-9-2-1).

Tommy Broten scored the lone goal for New Ulm (13-10-2-1), with Jacob Zowin and Jacob Berkowitz each adding assists.

Steel goaltender A.J. Cohen stopped 22 of 25 Blizzard shots, while Alexandria netminder Ville Hytinnen stopped 37 of 38 New Ulm shots.

“I thought that we had a good first period and then got outworked in the second and third periods,” Steel coach Zach Stepan said. “Whether that is chalked up to having some time off (10 days) but Alexandria was in the same boat.”

The Steel, who host Granite City at 7:10 p.m. Saturday night, took a 1-0 lead out of the blocks when Tommy Broten scored his second goal of the season at the 13:15 mark, with Zowin and Berkowitz being credited with helpers.

But that ended up being the last time the Steel lit the lamp in the game.

The Blizzard, who stayed overnight in New Ulm as they play Saturday night in Mason City against North Iowa, tied the game on Carlson’s goal at the nine-minute mark. Five minutes later, Alexandria took the lead for good on a Westra goal for a 2-1 lead after the second period before Jacobs’ goal at the 2:45 mark of the third period moved the Blizzard to a 3-1 lead.

“We were soft in the second and third periods,” Stepan said. “And then in the last seven minutes of the game when we realized we were down, we started to pour it on like we know we can.

“Tonight we only played 25 minutes of a hockey game and the other 35 minutes Alexandria was all over us. You tip your hats to Alex because after we pushed them in the first period, they came back and they poured it on us. If there was a team that deserved to win tonight, it definitely was not us.”