HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — With 17 seconds left on the clock, Dominik Shine capped his first career hat trick with a shorthanded penalty shot strike to lift the Northern Michigan hockey team to a 4-3 victory over Alabama-Huntsville Friday night at the Von Braun Center.

With the win, their first when trailing after two periods this season, the Wildcats improve to 5-5-5 (4-4-3 WCHA).

Shine opened the scoring in the game's first 10 minutes. Seconds before a Northern Michigan penalty kill was set to expire, he was sprung on a breakaway. He picked up Brock Maschmeyer coming out of the box but beat Matt Larose himself to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead at the 8:17 minute mark.

The Chargers evened the score at 15:03 when Max McHugh, who had a hand in every Alabama-Huntsville goal, buried a booming Brennan Saulnier point shot when left alone in tight.

But the game wouldn't be tied for long. Eighteen seconds later, Robbie Payne gained the Charger zone off of the center-ice draw and sent a shot on net. Shine was there to bury the rebound and regain the Northern Michigan lead.

Alabama-Huntsville netted two unanswered goals in the second period to take a 3-2 advantage. After killing off the second half of a five-minute major, Chad Brears netted his fifth goal of the season off a McHugh rebound to tie the game at 1:47.

Then, with the Chargers on a 4-on-3 man advantage, Jetlan Houcher snapped another McHugh rebound past Atte Tolvanen to give his team its first lead of the night at 13:36.

The Wildcats evened the score early in the third period when Kurt Gosselin negated a Charger man advantage by taking a slashing penalty. After winning the resulting offensive zone draw cleanly, Darren Nowick netted the equalizer, skating in on net and rifling a shot past Larose at 4:20.

With 2:08 left in the game, Zach Diamantoni was whistled for tripping, sending the Wildcats to their sixth penalty kill of the game. Tolvanen, who made 44 saves for the Wildcats, was able to come up with a big save on Saulnier in the middle of that kill, setting up Shine's heroics.

Shine earned the penalty shot after picking off a Charger pass and racing back the other way on a breakaway, on which he was tripped up. On the penalty shot, he roofed a shot past Larose to give Northern Michigan its first victory since Nov. 7.

The Wildcats and Chargers return to the ice tomorrow, with puck drop slated for 8:07 p.m.

NOTES: Northern Michigan leads the all-time series, 9-2-2 ... Shine is the first Wildcat to convert on a penalty shot since Erik Higby accomplished the feat in a 5-1 loss to Minnesota State Feb. 1, 2014 ... Shine is the second Wildcat to net a hat trick this season, joining Payne, who turned the trick Oct. 16 against Lake Superior State ... Shine's hat trick was the first multi-goal effort of his collegiate career ... Tolvanen's 44 saves was two short of his career high, set Oct. 31 against Bemidji State; it was the fourth 40-save performance of his career ... With an assist on Nowick's goal, Connor Frantti posted his first collegiate point ... Nowick's goal was his fifth of the season, tying him with John Siemer for the team lead ... Northern Michigan last won when trailing after two periods Feb. 21, 2015 at Bowling Green; in that game, they scored a 4-3 victory after entering the final frame behind, 3-1 ... Tonight's victory snapped a four-game winless streak over which the Wildcats went 0-2-2.