The stage was perfectly set for a Lake Forest comeback Thursday night at the North Shore Ice Arena in Northbrook.

The Scouts trailed host New Trier Green 3-2 with 3:06 remaining in the third period. New Trier’s Hans Huber was whistled for a cross-checking penalty, so Lake Forest called a timeout before play resumed. Lake Forest goalie Andrew Sommers was kept on the bench and the Scouts had a 6-on-4 man-advantage.

Intensity and emotions were in high gear, for both teams. The Scouts controlled the puck and worked their offense, just trying to get one more past Trevians goalie Wyatt Schmidt.

Lake Forest had not one, but two, seemingly easy tap-ins that would have tied the score. Neither was converted and the puck was ultimately sent to the Scouts’ defensive end. They attempted the breakout, but Christian Randle was able to poke the puck away from a Lake Forest defenseman near the blue line and was face-to-face with an empty net.

Randle tallied with 2:22 remaining, giving New Trier a 4-2 edge.

“We had two opportunities at the end. It was just unlucky; that’s all I can say about that. Obviously (that was) frustrating,” said Lake Forest’s Thomas Santaniello.

Lake Forest coach Steve Sarauer spoke to his team after the game about that powerplay, and more. “It’s frustrating to miss those chances, but we’re getting those chances; that’s what matters. And the more we get those chances, the more we’ll convert on those chances. It’ll happen.”

Lake Forest’s Landon Milz scored a rebound goal with :07 seconds remaining, but it was too late for the upset.

The Trevians triumphed, 4-3, moving their SHL record to 15-2. New Trier is now riding a 6-games SHL winning streak.

The Scouts fall to 8-11 and have now lost back-to-back games heading into their Sunday night home game against Loyola Gold.

New Trier returns to SHL action on the road Saturday against Saint Ignatius.

“It was a pretty good game. Obviously, we stepped it up a lot, had a lot of shots on net; we got pucks deep and we were buying into our systems,” Santaniello said. “Yeah, obviously it sucks (to lose). We did what we needed to do, but just came up short in the end. But I’m proud of the way we played today. They’re the No. 1 (ranked) team for a reason, but I thought we showed up and gave them a great effort.”

In fact, the Scouts led 2-1 for most of the second period until Connor Hirschtritt scored, assisted by Garrett Chong, with 5:24 remaining in the second to tie the game, 2-2, which is how the third period started.

“We played hard, worked hard. It was a fantastic game,” Sarauer said. “To play these guys, at their home rink and lose by one goal, that will give us confidence. We had them on the ropes; we just couldn’t pull it out. We never quit.”

Lake Forest’s Noah Kowalski scored his first SHL goal about 3 minutes into the middle period, assisted by Murphy Moorhead, giving the Scouts a 2-1 edge.

“Obviously it was a huge goal,” by Kowalski, Santaniello said.

New Trier swept the 3-game season series over Lake Forest with this final game the closest of the season. Trevians head coach Adam Cheris praised the Scouts after the game, which he tagged as a “tough game.”

“Lake Forest is a good team. They’re in every game; they win a lot of games, so it’s not a team to take lightly,” Cheris said.

The Trevians struck first after the Scouts couldn’t clear the puck from their defensive end. Harrison Miller scored, assisted by David Wolff less than 3 minutes into the game, giving New Trier a 1-0 lead.

Lake Forest answered at 6:45 of the first period, as Andrew Marsch scored off a 2-on-1 break, assisted by Santaniello.

“I thought we came out with a good jump in our step,” Cheris said.

And late in the game, the Trevians enjoyed a “lucky break” when neither of the Scouts’ powerplay tries found the back of the net, Cheris said.

Brendan Heneghan gave Green a 3-2 lead with 10:27 remaining in the game.

“I was just trying to get (a shot) on net and then get off ice. I just got a lucky bounce and it went in,” Heneghan said. “I thought it was a real sloppy game. We gave up too many odd-man rushes; that’s how they scored. We just have to be more consistent with our forecheck.”

Randle’s goal was his team-leading 3rd shorthanded goal this season and his third empty-net tally over the past two weeks. He has 7 goals, 6 assists in 17 SHL games.

“I knew which way (their defenseman) was going to go, so I decided to poke check him, (leading to) a wide-open net,” Randle said. “That was a really big (goal); it got the boys going.”