The Forester men's hockey team was edged out 5-4 in overtime Friday night against visiting Trine University, the 14th-ranked team in the nation.

The back-and-forth battle began with a pair of goals for the Thunder, one just 54 seconds into the contest and the other on the power play less than four minutes later.

The visitors' lead was cut in half at the 8:43 mark of the opening period when freshman forward Christopher O'Flaherty fired a shot past the Trine goaltender from just inside the blue line. Sophomore forward Max Jaldung picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and quickly found O'Flaherty to earn the assist.

Lake Forest tied the game just 62 seconds into the second period on senior forward Logan Kittleson's fourth score of the season. Sophomore defenseman Hunter Cooke brought thr puck up the right side and into the center of the offensive zone before finding Kittleson for an open shot from the left circle.

After Trine regained the lead with a power play goal at the 8:04 mark, the Foresters drew even again just 61 seconds later on O'Flaherty's second tally of the night and team-high 12th this season. Kittleson and sophomore forward Jax Schauer battled a pair of Thunder players in the right corner of the offensive zone and got the puck out to O'Flaherty. He moved between the circles before blasting a shot into the right side of the net to tie the score at three.

The home team took the lead with 6:19 to play in the second when senior forward Justin Ross struck for the fourth time this year. He put in the rebound after a shot from just inside the blue line by Jaldung.

After combining for seven goals in the game's first 34 minutes, the teams went scoreless for the next 23. A Forester penalty set up the Thunder's sixth power play opportunity of the night and they converted on the third of those chances with 2:39 on the clock.

Trine won 64.8 percent of the game's faceoffs, including the one to start the overtime period. The visitors then possessed the puck for nearly a minute before scoring the game-winner.

Forester freshman goaltender Luke Szyszka and junior Alexander Rohlf combined to make 43 saves in the contest. Szyszka started before sustaining an injury just 32 seconds into the second period. Rohlf came on in relief and stopped 28 of 31 shots on goal the rest of the way.

Lake Forest fell to 4-13-1 overall and 4-7-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play but did earn the team's 13th point in the league standings. Trine improved to 11-5-2 overall and 7-2-2 in NCHA play.

The same two teams will face off again in Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon at 4:00.