BIDDEFORD – Some eyebrows were raised after the first period of the Class A quarterfinal matchup between No. 1 Biddeford and No. 8 South Portland at the Biddeford Arena Tuesday night.

In a game that many expected the Tigers to win handily, the Riots (6-11-2) had played Biddeford to a 0-0 tie after the first 15 minutes. But then Biddeford opened the floodgates in the second and third periods, blasting six unanswered goals for a 6-0 win. Brady Fleurent led the Tigers with a goal and four assists and Bryan Dallaire added a goal and two assists.

The Tigers held an overwhelming advantage in shots on goal in the contest, putting 47 shots on Riot goaltender Dominic Desjardins while the Riots could only manage to fire 21 shots at Tiger goalie Jon Fields.

While there was no scoring in the first period, there was plenty of action in the penalty boxes as the two teams combined for eight first-period penalties, with four of them on the Tigers.

After the game, Biddeford Head Coach Rich Reissfelder said that the penalties allowed the Riots to stay in the game in the first. “We can’t play shorthanded,” he said, adding that he knew once the Tigers settled down and kept out of the box, they would be able to take control of the game. “I knew five-on-five we’d be fine. It was just a matter of being mentally tough and staying out of the box.”

Proving their coach right, the Tigers did keep out of the box in the second period, and that’s when the offense started to click.

At 7:24 of the second, Fleurent got the offense going when he made a nice pass over to Stephen Comar, who blasted a high shot past Desjardins to put the Tigers up 1-0. It didn’t take Biddeford long to score again, at 4:04 of the second, Dallaire brought the puck down the middle of the ice and passed it outside to Fleurent on the wing. As Desjardins moved over to block Fleurent, he slid the puck right back on Dallaire’s stick and all he had to do was push the puck into the gaping net for a 2-0 lead.

Reissfelder said teamwork like that comes from the hours of practice the Tigers put in all season. “They work so hard in practice, it comes naturally in the game,” he said.

Biddeford took a 3-0 lead late in the period as Tyler Audie scored with an assist from Tyson Nadeau with just 1:44 left.

After the game, South Portland Head Coach Joe Robinson said that his team came into the game shorthanded and he felt that played a big factor in the result. “We were looking pretty good for a while there,” he said. “We were hanging with them. But we just ran out of gas. When you don’t have the numbers, you have to play guys in different spots and it takes away from everyone else.”

Biddeford kept the hammer down in the third, refusing to allow the Riots to have any hope of a comeback, adding goals from Scott Callahan (with an assist from Fleurent), Audie (Fleurent and Dallaire assisted) and Fleurent capped the scoring at 13:18 of the third with an assist from Dallaire.

Reissfelder said he was very happy with Fleurent’s five-point night, adding that the sophomore can do just about everything on the ice. “He’s good in pretty much every facet of the game,” he said.

Biddeford now heads to the Class A semifinals where they will face No. 4 Falmouth, which decimated Noble 11-0 on Tuesday. The game will be at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.