FAIRMONT – A perfect ending to complete a hat trick.

Fairmont Area senior defender Taylor Nuss’ right-side wrister to the top shelf with 15 seconds remaining in overtime propelled the Cardinals to a 4-3 season-opening hockey victory over the Windom Area Eagles on Tuesday night at Martin County Arena.

“We (coaching staff) kept saying on the bench that we needed to finish and they did,” said Fairmont Area mentor Ashley Olson, who netted a win during her high school coaching debut in Fairmont.

Aptly, Nuss produced the second goal of her hat trick via the power play by hammering a right-wing high-octane blast off Windom Area goaltender Emily Steen’s pads to knot the game at 3-all with 12:23 remaining in regulation.

Trailing 3-2 on the heels of Eagles junior center Molly Boyum’s second goal of the game, senior center Cori Emler and seventh-grade wing Mackenzie Householder threaded the puck through a scrum in front of the net to find Nuss.

Nuss ripped a right-to-left laser that Steen partially deflected while contending with Cardinal wing Joni Becker camping near the crease, and could only watch it trickle across the line for the equalizer. Emler earned a playmaker for notching her third assist of the opener.

Emler’s passing prowess helped engineer Fairmont Area’s 2-1 lead after one completed period.

Emler delivered a precision lead pass to a breaking Becker, who slid home an ice-hugging shot inside the left pipe for a quick 1-0 Cardinals’ lead with 13:48 left in the opening frame.

Boyum, however, countered for the Eagles to tie the score at 1-all. Boyum tracked down an errant clearing pass and ricochet along the left wing and wristed it by Fairmont Area netminder Sadie Sandersfeld at the 9:23 juncture of the first period.

Emler and Nuss needed only 9 seconds to light the lamp at the other end to restore Fairmont Area’s one-goal margin. Emler spotted Nuss near the right doorstep and Nuss knocked it home for a 2-1 edge.

Sandersfeld delivered five of her 27 saves during a shutout second period for the Cardinals, while Steen turned away all 13 of Fairmont Area’s middle-segment shots en route to a game-best 35 saves.

Windom Area’s Anna Volk knotted the game at 2-all only 10 seconds into the third period. Abagail Turner spotted Volk near the crease off the faceoff and Volk tallied the power-play goal.

Boyum later staked the Eagles to a 3-2 lead by intercepting a crossing pass and rushing the right wing. Boyum wristed the puck by Sandersfeld near the right pipe at the 14:35 juncture.

Nuss, who accounted for three of the Cardinals’ four shots in overtime, ended the game on the strength of her wrister nearly a minute and a half after the home team’s fifth and final power-play chance elapsed.

Fairmont Area (1-0) plays host to Luverne at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday night at Martin County Arena in Fairmont.

Windom Area (0-1) travels to Litchfield today for a 5 p.m. clash against Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato.

Windom 1-0-2-0-3

Fairmont 2-0-1-1-4

Scoring Plays

1st Period

FA-Joni Becker (Cori Emler), 13:48.

WDM-Molly Boyum (unassisted), 9:23.

FA-Taylor Nuss (Cori Emler), 9:14.

2nd Period

No scoring.

3rd Period

WDM-Anna Volk (Abagail Turner), pp., 16:50.

WDM-Molly Boyum (unassisted), 14:35.

FA-Taylor Nuss (Mackenzie Householder, Cori Emler), pp., 12:23.

Overtime

FA-Taylor Nuss (unassisted), 0:15.

Shots on goal: Fairmont Area 13-13-9-4-39; Windom Area 12-5-10-3-30.

Saves: Sadie Sandersfeld (FA) 11-5-8-3-27; Emily Steen (WDM) 11-13-8-3-35.

Penalties: Windom Area 5 for 10 minutes; Fairmont Area 2 for 4 minutes.

Power-play chances: Fairmont Area 1-for-5; Windom Area 1-for-2.