Five goals in the third period powered Air Force to a 7-1 win over St. Lawrence in the Saints' opening game of the Ice Vegas Invitational at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday night.

With the loss, the Saints fall to 3-13-1 on the season, while Air Force improves to 11-7-1. It is the first loss in tournament play for St. Lawrence under Mark Morris, as they entered the weekend 2-0-2 in tournament games the last two seasons.

Cade Gleekel scored the lone goal for the Saints, spoiling the Falcons' shutout bid at the 13:41 mark of the third period. Andrew McIntyre picked up his first collegiate assists on the centering pass, while Philip Alftberg also recorded a point on the play.

Evan Feno led Air Force with five points on a goal and four assists, while Evan Giesler tallied four points for the Falcons with a pair of power play goals and two helpers of his own.

The Falcons finished 4-for-5 with the man advantage in the win, with their first three goals of the game coming on the power play.

It was 2-0 Air Force through 40 minutes as Matt Koch opened the scoring at 7:04 of the first period on a tip in front. Giesler extended the lead to 2-0 at 10:19 of the second and then 3-0 with his second of the night at 2:03 of the third.

The Saints had an opportunity to close the gap with a five-minute power play after Brady Tomlak was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for a hit from behind on the Saints' Jacob Nielsen, but the Falcons' fourth-ranked penalty kill kept the Saints off the board and killed it off.

Air Force scored three goals in a span of 1:17 midway through the third period to push the lead to 6-0 before Gleekel got the Saints on the board with his third of year.

Alftberg played the puck to McIntyre who was streaking down the right-wing side on a rush into the Falcons' zone and the Kitchener, Ontario native hit Gleekel with a perfect centering pass for a quick redirect at the edge of the crease to make it 6-1.

The seventh Air Force goal came with just four seconds to play in the third period.

Starter Daniel Manella made 20 saves in 51:48 between the pipes on Friday night, while Arthur Brey stopped three in the final 8:02.

Billy Christopoulos made 17 saves for the Falcons in the win.

Air Force advances to face Western Michigan in the tournament championship game, while St. Lawrence will face UConn in the consolation on Saturday at 5 p.m. (PST)/8 p.m. (EST), as the Huskies fell 5-1 to Western Michigan in the tournament opener early Friday evening.