College hockey teams expect to play their best in the second half of the season, but Colorado College has not been playing up to par on defense. 

After building a two-goal lead in the opening period, the Tigers surrendered six goals over the second, third and overtime periods to fall 6-5 at St. Cloud State on Friday. CC has allowed 10 goals in its last two games and has given up at least four scores in three of its previous five contests. 

Sophomore defenseman Philippe Blais-Savoie and junior right wing Drew Montgomery gave CC (11-14-4, 5-10-4) a 2-0 advantage in the first period, at the 5:01 and 12:48 marks, respectively. But the Huskies did not lay down and roll over. 

Huskies defenseman Tanner Henricks scored the first goal for the hosts at 5:52 of the second period. 

Tigers junior center Klavs Veinbergs answered with his third goal in as many games at 12:50. Veinbergs is now tied for the team lead in points scored this season with 19 with a team-high 10 goals and nine assists. 

His score did little to dampen the fight of St. Cloud State as forward Austin Burnevik scored on a one-timer from the right circle at 17:11. The Huskies tied the game just under a minute later as forward Nolan Roed scored on the odd-man rush at 18:33. 

Junior top-line right wing Bret Link regained the lead for CC, redirecting a shot from freshman left wing Wilson Björck at the crease with 39 seconds remaining in the period. 

The Huskies tied the game early in the third period as forward Ryan Rosborough beat CC freshman goalie Jackson Unger from the slot at 2:44 of the third frame. 

Freshman left wing Brandon Lisowsky scored his fifth goal of the season for the Tigers two minutes later to once again regain the lead for the visitors. His shot found twine from the top of the slot. 

But St. Cloud’s Gavyn Thoreson answered at 11:45 to send CC to its third overtime game in three weeks. 

The extra period was short-lived as St. Cloud captain Cooper Wylie ended the game 15 seconds in with a goal from the top of the slot. 

“We just weren’t good enough defensively and that was right from the drop of the puck,” Tigers coach Kris Mayotte said. “We just couldn’t manage the game with the puck. We fed their transition, and then we didn’t do a good job anticipating it or working back in their transition. Our line rush against we couldn’t sort. … And that’s on me. That’s my job to get these guys ready to be hard to play against and we just weren’t that tonight.” 

Unger earned his third start in as many weeks. He finished with 33 saves as CC was outshot 24-39. 

CC and St. Cloud will finish the series on Saturday at 5 p.m.