Just when it looked like they were ready to make a move, things went bad for the Austin boys hockey team in a 6-2 loss to New Ulm in Riverside Arena Tuesday.

After Austin’s Codie Miller scored on a power play slap shot to pull the Packers (6-9 overall) within a score of 3-2, New Ulm (9-7 overall) scored two goals over the next two minutes.

Adam Losse started the rally by angling a slap shot around Austin goalie Aaron Dooley, who had 50 saves, and Zach Hoffman scored on a rebound to make it 5-2.

“We were in it, but we were slow,” Austin head coach Tim Peterson said. “It hurt us not having practice yesterday after getting a hard nosed win (over Waseca) Saturday. It was tough to jump right back into playing again.”

The Packers didn’t have any penalties in the first period, but Austin committed five penalties over the last two periods, which allowed the Eagles to score three power play goals — including two in the third period.

“We battled hard but we had some unfortunate mistakes and got into penalty trouble in the third period. It’s not how we wanted things to go,” Peterson said. “We played well in spurts. We’ve got some stuff to work on and they’ll work hard.”

The Packers got a big lift at the end of the second period when Dooley stopped Loose on a penalty shot after Loose was taken down on a breakaway.

But it was Austin’s missed chances that stuck out the most in the loss. Early in the second period, Austin almost took a 2-1 lead when they had a shot trickle in front of the net and it just missed going in.

The Packers almost scored again at the end of the second period when Miller had a breakaway stopped by New Ulm goalie Blake Burgau as the buzzer sounded. Miller got free on a solid outlet pass from Isaac Gorman.

“The (close plays) are magnified, but we’ve struggled a little bit with finishing this year so it kind of seems normal, unfortunately,” Peterson said. “We’ll keep working on it in practice and hopefully we’ll start getting some more goals.”

Austin’s first goal came from Adam McMasters in the first period when he knocked one in from point blank.

Austin beat Waseca 2-1 on Saturday and will host Rochester Mayo Thursday and travel to Mankato West Saturday.

“I knew this one (against New Ulm) was winnable and I honestly think our next two are winnable so hopefully we’ll get right back on that winning track on Thursday,” Peterson said.

New Ulm 1 2 3 — 6

Austin 1 0 1 — 2

First period

(N) 7:41 Zach Munce (Zach Fischer, Bryan Kehren)

(A) 8:58 Adam McMasters (Isaac Gorman)

Second period

(N) 6:00 Zach Hoffmann (Fischer)

(N) 9:04 Fischer (Quinn O’Connor) (PP)

Third period

(A) 7:57 Codie Miller (McMasters) (PP)

(N) 8:28 Adam Loose

(N) 9:47 Hoffmann (O’Connor, Loose) (PP)

(N) 14:06 Fischer (O’Connor, Loose) (PP)

Shots on goal: Austin — 27; New Ulm — 56

Power plays: Austin — 0-for-3; New Ulm — 3-for-5