Lakeville coach Trent Eigner didn’t have payback on his mind, but some of his players did.

Eigner said he didn’t think revenge helped fuel his second-ranked Panthers to a 3-1 win over top-ranked Edina on Thursday in a rematch of last year’s Class 2A state championship game. The Hornets defeated Lakeville North 8-2 in March as Edina won its second consecutive state title.

Eigner pointed to the fact that this was a regular-season game in December, and that there’s a possibility -- although unlikely -- that neither of these teams make it back to the state tournament. 

“It’s the home opener, so there’s a lot more going through guys’ minds than just playing Edina,” Eigner said. “But obviously when it’s a 1-2 matchup, with that comes all the pomp and circumstance. You save (revenge) for March, if you’re fortunate enough to get there.” 

Eigner also conceded there’s a good chance his team can return to the Xcel Energy Center to cap off the season if senior forward Nick Poehling can keep scoring hat tricks.

Poehling completed his second hat trick in as many games with an empty-net goal late in the third period that sealed the Panthers’ victory. Poehling’s first score came on a power play when his twin brother, Jack, sent the puck through a seam in the Hornets’ defense to Nick, who blasted a rocket shot into the upper reaches of the net to give Lakeville North a 1-0 lead halfway through the first period. 

“We don’t obviously plan it out; it just happens,” Nick said of the Poehling to Poehling connection. “We always know where each other are on the ice, and we move the puck well. Sometimes we’re fortunate enough to have it happen like that. It’s pretty cool.”

Nick leads Lakeville North with six goals and seven points through two games, and the Panthers' potential Mr. Hockey candidate admitted last year's loss to the Hornets provided some extra motivation in this matchup.

“As returners, we had a little bit of revenge in us though,” he said. “We definitely wanted it a little more.” 

The Panthers seemed to have Edina on the ropes throughout most of the game, and when the Hornets were pushing to tie the score late in the third, Lakeville North had an answer. 

Eigner’s team was more ready to play than the usually well-coached Hornets, but he said the Panthers didn’t rehash the mistakes they made last year. The team didn’t even break out tape from Edina’s blowout win last March. 

“My kids probably didn’t want to watch an 8-2 game over and over again,” Eigner said. “It’s a different team. It’s a different group of kids. Their team has changed quite a bit as well, so watching last year’s tape wasn’t going to do much for us. I think more than anything, mentally, we had to get over the hurdle a little bit.”

That hurdle was simply shooting the puck, Eigner said. 

“If there’s one thing I talk about with that group of guys on that first line, when you’re as gifted as they are moving the puck, you forget to shoot,” he said. “And I’m on them all the time, 'Shoot the puck, shoot the puck, shoot the puck.' They’re kids that can score goals. And that’s what [Poehling] did a great job of tonight. They provided a ton of offense for us, which you can expect.”

For now, the Panthers said they’re just going to enjoy the win. And no one is enjoying it more than Nick, Jack Poehling said.

“Nick’s had two [hat tricks] in two games,” he said. “It’s pretty exciting to see that. He’s definitely the golden child, we always give him crap about that at home.”

Senior Nick Poehling scored three goals, including a empty netter with 29 seconds remaining, to lift Lakeville North past Edina 3-1 on Thursday at a packed-to-capacity Lakeville Ames Arena in a rematch of last year's state Class 2A championship.

Fans stood two and three rows deep at ice level, lined the stairways on either side of the bleachers and kids were hanging from the plexiglass all in an attempt to gain a better vantage point of the much-anticipated showdown of the state's top-ranked teams (two-time defending champion Edina was ranked No. 1 in the latest state coaches' poll, and Lakeville North was No. 2).

Poehling, a forward who has committed to St. Cloud State, made a strong case for his Mr. Hockey candidacy by blasting two rocket shots into the upper reaches of the net for goals 59 seconds apart in the first period.

Edina senior Dylan Malmquist, a Notre Dame commit and another likely Mr. Hockey contender, scored a shorthanded breakaway goal with 7:56 left in the second period to pull Edina to within 2-1. 

The Hornets (4-1-1) outshot Lakeville North 29-21 and had several chances to score in the final minutes, but Poehling's third goal clinched the win and sent a shower of hats flying from the Lakeville North cheering section. The Panthers improved to 2-0-0 with the win.

An estimated 1,000 fans packed the arena, which was already at capacity more than an hour before the drop of the puck. At least two dozen college and NHL scouts were among those in attendance. 

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