PLATTSBURGH — Shots on goal don't reflect mental mistakes.

The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team outshot rival Oswego, 34-14, Saturday night at the Stafford Ice Arena.

But, the Lakers, taking advantage of some Plattsburgh State miscues, ended up skating to a 5-2 win in State University of New York Athletic Conference play.

"I appreciate the work ethic of the players," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "But, we have to play smarter — keeping the puck out is the name of the game.

"This is the first adversity we've faced in quite a while. Now, we'll see where we go from here."

The Lakers (5-1, 4-0), who are now alone at the top of the SUNYAC standings, held a 2-0 lead after one on power-play goals by Eric Selleck at 15:39 and Jon Whitelaw, shortly after, at 16:57.

"Penalties are going to happen — there's nothing you can do about that," Emery said. "But, we had two veteran defensemen who made mental mistakes that led to the two goals. We can't have that."

The Cardinals (3-1, 3-1) then came out and played a n outstanding second period, outshooting the Lakers, 18-3.

Kyle Kudroch, with the Cardinals skating up two men, back-handed the puck into the net from in front at 4:44 to pull Plattsburgh State to within, 2-1.

Then, with traffic in front of the Oswego net, Vick Schlueter tied the game from the slot at 16:12.

The game, however, took a major turn with just two-tenths of a second left in the second stanza when Chris Laganiere got the puck, turned and wristed a shot over Plattsburgh State netminder Josh Leis to put the Lakers ahead to stay, at 3-2.

"We were outshooting them, 18-1, in the second period," Emery said. "The goal took some of the wind out of our sails."

Oswego played well with the lead in the third period before the Cardinals turned up the pressure in the Lakers' end.

But, with 3:06 left in the contest following some heavy Plattsburgh State pressure, Oswego used its transition game to catch the Cardinals in a two-on-one with Whitelaw scoring his second goal of the game.

Selleck then added his second goal of the contest, at 17:52, on an empty netter.

Oswego goaltender Kyle Gunn-Taylor stopped 32 of 34 shots and Leis made nine saves for the Cardinals, who had a 19-game unbeaten streak against SUNYAC opponents come to an end.

Oswego went two-of-six on the powerplay and Plattsburgh State, one-of-six.

"They scored two power-play goals and then we shut their powerplay down," Emery said. "Our powerplay is still a work in progress. We have some new guys on it this year and we need to get better.

"What I was most disappointed with tonight, however, was how we played on faceoffs."

The Cardinals hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to Morrisville on Saturday for a 7 p.m. game.

In other SUNYAC action Saturday, Morrisville skated to a 4-3 overtime win at Geneseo and Potsdam edged out a 4-3 overtime win over Cortland. In non-conference play, Brockport dropped a 4-1 contest to Hobart and Fredonia lost to Elmira, 4-3.

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Oswego 5, Plattsburgh 2

Score by periods:

Oswego 2 1 2 — 5

Plattsburgh 0 2 0 — 2

First period- 1, Osw, Selleck ppg (Laganiere, Mallaro), 15:39. 2, Osw, Whitelaw ppg (Selleck, Fox), 16:57. Penalties- Whitelaw, Osw (roughing), 2:29. Breslin, PSU (cross-checking), 7:35. Puglisi, PSU (high sticking), 14:24. Satm, PSU (hooking), 16:40.

Second period- 3, PSU, Kudroch (Farrow, Willock), 4:44. 4, PSU, Schlueter, 16:12. 5, Osw, Laganiere (Farris, Van Boxmeer), 19:59. Penalties- Whitelaw, Osw (boarding), 2:51. Kelly, Osw (hooking), 3:58. Gilchrist, Osw (tripping), 6:44. Schlueter, PSU (holding), 9:36.

Third period- 6, Osw, Whitelaw (Rodrigues, Lyon), 16:54. 7, Osw, Selleck, 17:52. Penalties- PSU (too many men), 7:14. Schlueter, PSU (hitting from behind, game disqualification), 18:12.

Shots on goal:

Oswego 6 3 5 — 14

Plattsburgh 9 18 7 — 34

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Gunn-Taylor, Osw, 34-32. Leis, PSU, 13-9.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Oswego, 2-6. Plattsburgh, 1-6.