In a span of 11 days, Palmer coach Bob Davidson will know where his hockey team stands.

Starting the six-game run with a 3-2 victory over Pine Creek certainly didn’t hurt.

“It’s really going to define whether we make the playoffs or not, so every game is really important,’’ Davidson said Monday at Sertich Ice Arena.

Check out a slideshow of photos from the game.

The Terrors (4-3, 1-1 Peak Conference) got a pair of goals from Kirk Van Arkel — both assisted by Max Kay — and 27 saves from Dylan Slizewski to hold off the Eagles, who scored once after pulling their goalie and had a couple of shots to tie it in the final minute.

“I thought we played better as the game went on,” Pine Creek coach Ken Martel said. “Penalties just got us in trouble.”

Perhaps none was bigger than the penalty the Eagles took seconds after Chase Clements opened the scoring with a power-play goal from Xander Hoskins and Christian Clark at 5:36 of the first period.

By 5:41, Van Arkel had evened the count.

“That was a big goal,” Van Arkel said, “because they got the momentum early and we needed something to get back into the game.”

Palmer, which created most of its chances with puck movement, took the lead for good at 10:31 of the first period when Van Arkel scored off a rush.

“We’re coming off a long break so we basically wanted to make the puck do the work tonight rather than us overworking the puck,’’ Davidson said.

The Terrors scored what eventually would be the game-winner when Sam Hesselberg tallied from Emmet Subka and Tanner Clark after a scramble with only 4:41 left.

Pine Creek (3-4, 1-2) responded with its best effort of the game. The Eagles, after pulling goalie Chris Dylewski (19 saves) for an extra attacker, got within 3-2 when Cody Hill scored from Luke Grignano and Chad Gary with 1:09 left.

But the Eagles’ eighth penalty, just 7 seconds after the goal, blunted their momentum.

“It’s hard to score when you’re short-handed,” Martel said. “We did that to ourselves and we deserved to lose because of that.’’

Photo by BRYAN OLLER, THE GAZETTE