ST. PETER, Minn. — With Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference playoff implications riding on every game from here on out, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's hockey coach Bill Moore knew the importance of Saturday's rematch against Gustavus.
 
And so did his players.
 
The Cardinals—thanks to goals by Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) and Jay Heinle (York, Pa.), and the shutout goaltending of Aaron Davis (Mount, Minn.)—inched a step closer to locking up one of those five conference playoff spots, collecting a 2-0 victory at Don Roberts Ice Rink.
 
With the sweep—the Cardinals earned a 3-1 victory at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena in Friday's opening game of the team's two-game conference series, the Cardinals leap-frogged into a three-way tie for second place with Augsburg and Hamline with 26 points, while Concordia currently rounds out the top five with 20 points.
 
Kinne broke a scoreless deadlock 3:37 into the second period, netting his team-leading 13^th goal of the season off assists from Martin Gruse (Trenton, Mich.) and Heinle to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 advantage.
 
An advantage the Cardinals would cling to until the 12:24 mark of the third period, when Heinle took a feed from Kelvin Walz (Woodbury, Minn.) and beat GAC goalie Erik Johnson to give Saint Mary's a two-goal cushion.
 
And two goals was more than enough with Davis between the pipes, as the junior stopped a career-high 31 shots en route to his first collegiate shutout. Johnson, meanwhile, finished with 23 saves in goal for the Gusties.
 
The Cardinals (8-5-1 MIAC, 12-8-3 Overall) hit the road for a pair of conference games against Saint John's next weekend at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud, Minn. Saint Mary's and SJU square off at 7:30 p.m. Friday, before completing the two-game series with a 2 p.m. matchup a day later.