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WHEELING - Every once in a while good things can come from bad situations, especially in sports.

Take for example Coach Anthony Evick's John Marshall hockey team, which allowed visiting Blackhawk, Pa., six power-play opportunties Monday night. However, not only did the Monarchs not allow a goal while playing a man down, they managed to score three shorthanded goals.

John Marshall built a 3-2 lead, all with shorthanded scores, and Isaac Fitzpatrick added a pair of unassisted goals in the third period as the Monarchs defeated the Cougars by a 5-3 count on the ice at WesBanco Arena.

The victory moves Evick's squad to 4-2-1 with a trip to Quigley, Pa., next up on Monday night.

It was Blackhawk that got the game's first goal on a rare mistake by goalie Drew Balcar, who consistently made big saves, especially early on.

But with 4:40 remaining in the first period, Matt Miller's shot glanced off of Balcar's glove and fell into the goal for a 1-0 advantage.

''Drew (Balcar) really bailed us out in the first period and kept us in the game,'' Evick said. ''We have learned from our two losses that it takes a team effort to win, and we had that (Monday). But we came up big in net in that first period.''

John Marshall made sure that the Cougars would not lead again. The Monarchs scored a pair of goals off the same penalty just 49 seconds apart in the second.

Michael McGovern took a pass from John Evan Timko at 5:22 of the second and send it past Blackhawk goalie Ross Phipps to knot the count at 1-1. Shortly thereafter, with the Monarchs still a man down, Fitzpatrick found James Henderson from behind the net to make it 2-1 JM at 4:33.

However, just when it looked like the Monarchs would go to the locker room with the lead, Matthew Kimmel picked up his own missed shot and sent it past Balcar with 45 seconds showing for a 2-2 score.

With the score still deadlocked midway through the third, a call that Evick and the John Marshall players and fans felt went against them, only seemed to fire the team up.

First, Matthew Saseen's shorthanded goal from 10 feet away at 8:17 made it 3-2 Monarchs before Fitzpatrick, on a breakaway, drove close in and flipped a backhander into net past Phipps to make it 4-2 at 6:04.

Fitzpatrick then closed a three-goal barrage in just A 3:04 span when he took a long lead pass and slapped it over Phipps' shoulder to make it a 5-2 count. Henderson and Saseen were both credited with assists on the shot.

The Cougars got another late goal, but the damage had already been done.

''That was a really good game to watch,'' Evick added. ''You come into games always wanting to win special teams, but even I can't believe we scored three shorthanded goals.

''You expect to do good things on the power play, but sometimes you are able to do some good things when you are in penalty-kill situations also. Momentum can be a huge thing and we got it (Monday) and didn't let it go.

''When you are in situations that you are a man down all you can do is go out and play. You try to coach things like that, but you don't always get those chances.''

John Marshall finished with 27 shots on goal, but 0-for-5 on power plays, while Blackhawk had 24 shots and was shut out on six man-advantage situations.