AUBURN  —  A strong start to the third period gave Winslow/Gardiner/Cony/Messalonskee/Lawrence/Erskine/Maranacook all the momentum it needed to take down St. Dom’s 3-1 in a girls hockey North region quarterfinal Wednesday at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

“We knew we wanted this; we wanted this since the beginning of the season,” Black Tigers forward Abby Allen said. “All it was coming together and take it one goal at a time.”

Allen scored twice and Kate Nichols contributed one goal for the fifth-seeded Black Tigers (10-9).

The fourth-seeded Saints (11-8), despite the loss, gained playoff experience and that should prove beneficial for upcoming seasons.

“I was very proud of them for this year,” St. Dom’s coach Paul Gosselin said. “I have an extremely young team. With a young team, confidence is fragile. I thought we played well enough to win, and you have to put the puck into the net.”

Allen scored her first goal on a power play in 1:10 into the period off a deflection of an Alexa Caraccamo shot.

“It was kind of a gut feeling. I am not one who shoves my stick out in front,” Allen said. “I told myself, ‘Put my stick on the ice and something good will happen.”

Allen scored her second nearly two minutes later when St. Dom’s goalie, Alana Wheeler, misplayed Allen’s shot.

“Abby is probably the hardest working kid on the team,” Black Tigers coach Bill Boardman said. “She probably has been for two years; no one has worked harder than Abby Allen — she just goes and goes.”

Nichols scored nearly six minutes into the third.

The Black Tigers kept possession of the puck in the offensive zone for the majority of the first period, while St. Dom’s tried to counterattack whenever it had the opportunity.

“I thought we controlled the play in the first period, and we were certainly in possession of the puck and in our offensive zone,” Boardman said. “It’s a little frustrating when that happens and you don’t have the scoring chances, the quality chances that you want.”

The Saints pushed the pace more in the second period, and it resulted in 10 shots on goal. The Black Tigers’ best chances came on the power play.

St. Dom’s were trying to beat Black Tigers goalie Lily Berard on her glove hand.

“I preach low shots all the time,” Gosselin said. “Unfortunately, they were going to her glove. We had more shots than we had scoring opportunities. We just didn’t finish.”

St. Dom’s Lily Fortin was stopped by Berard on 2-on-0 opportunity, but 15 seconds later Fortin gave the Saints a 1-0 lead with under three minutes to play in the second. Gabby Allen and Aivanna D’Auteuil were credited with assists.

The game got a little testy after the goal, with both teams getting in each other’s faces at times.

“It’s a playoff game and everybody is fighting for it, and we were penetrating (the offensive zone) and they were getting frustrated,” Gosselin said.

It appeared the Black Tigers evened the game in the final minute of the second when the puck went past Wheeler after a teammate tried to pass it back to her, but the referees waived off the goal.

“His explanation was, and it was the right call, his intent was to blow the whistle,” Boardman said. “As soon as the official starts to bring their arm up to blow the whistle, the whistle is considered blown. It was a missed opportunity, I guess, but I certainly understand the call.”

The called-off goal gave the Black Tigers motivation for the strong third period.

“It was a little frustrating, but that motivated us to grind harder to the net and get those goals,” Abby Allen said.

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