Benilde-St. Margaret's Boys' Hockey

ANDOVER, Minn. -- Drew Stewart scored twice, assisted on a third goal and sixth-ranked Benilde-St. Margaret's handed defending Class AA state champion Andover a 3-0 loss on the Huskies home ice.

Although BSM is deep up front, ultimately it comes down to Notre Dame-commit Stewart and the team's top line, according to Red Knight head coach Ken Pauly.

"We have a very deep team up front this year," he said. "But that top line needs to produce in order for us to be the team that we want to be and Drew is the catalyst."

Keying the victory was the play of the Red Knight special teams, which scored on it's first two power-play chances and was six-for-six on the penalty kill.

The first power-play goal came with 14.1 seconds remaining in the opening stanza as Stewart knocked home a loose puck for a 1-0 lead.

The second power-play goal came when Michael Risteau took a pass from Mason Stenger at the top of the right circle and his shot through traffic gave his team a 2-0 lead midway through the second period.

The Red Knight penalty-kill played a key role in the win as well as they killed three penalties to open the third period, before Stewart scored his second goal of the game on a wraparound with 5:37 to play in the game.

"Winning special teams battles is more often than not the difference between winning and losing," Pauly said. "The power-play is never easy so it was nice to see that get rolling tonight.

"As great as the power play was, our penalty killing was key tonight. Killing that 5-on-3 in the third period was a gut-check for our kids."

Meanwhile, Mason McElroy was in the process of recording his sixth career shutout, a 21-save effort as BSM had a 34-21 advantage in shots on goal.

The Red Knights return home, Saturday, but the schedule doesn't get any easier as they play host to second-ranked Wayzata in a 2:30 p.m. matinee.