Freshman Jake Flynn had two goals and senior Mike Lebler tallied a goal and two assists as the Cyclones cruised past the University of Central Oklahoma Bronchos 8-3 Friday night at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

The game featured four power-play goals and a shorthanded goal by the Cyclones. Special teams dominated the game — much to the delight of ISU coach Al Murdoch.

“Special teams are very, very important,” Murdoch said. “We practice special teams every week. Our special teams were huge tonight.”

It was the Bronchos, however, that came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. A funky bounce off the corner boards left UCO forward Mike Haszto with the puck in front of the net. He shot it past ISU goalie Erik Hudson for the game’s first goal.

Minutes later, Central Oklahoma stunned the home crowd as forward Jonathon Cannizzo received the faceoff win at the point and powered a slap shot that ricocheted off the post and in.

The momentum shifted, though, midway through the first. The Cyclones had multiple chances to score, but a puck resting on the goal line, a disallowed goal thanks to a man in the crease and another shot that ended up riding along the crossbar, the Cyclones found themselves down two but not fazed.

“Coach wasn’t too worried at all,” Lebler said. “He knew those chances would be going in sooner or later.”

The teams traded goals early in the second.

Iowa State got on the board when freshman Shawn Crawford received a Lebler pass and went forehand to backhand to put the puck in the back of the net. Central Oklahoma responded less than two minutes later when UCO forward Josh Harris wristed a shot top corner that got past Hudson.

After that point, it was all Cyclones.

Senior Matt Cohn brought the Cyclones within one with a short-handed goal midway through the second period. Cohn received an outlet pass then played catch with freshman Matt Rucinski on the two-on-one rush in front of the UCO goal.

Cohn received the puck and deposited it into the wide-open net.

A three-on-one rush by Iowa State led to a roughing penalty on Central Oklahoma and the game-tying goal. The ISU power play connected again late in the second when sophomore Justin Wilkinson passed to Flynn on another odd-man rush, and Flynn scored.

“I saw the open corner and put it in,” Flynn said. “The new power-play line that I was on I thought worked really well together.”

Less than a minute later, the Cyclones scored the go-ahead goal. A giveaway in the offensive zone of the Bronchos led to Lebler with the puck at point-blank range, and he stuffed it home.

Central Oklahoma shuffled through three different goaltenders trying to stave off the Cyclone barrage.

On the other end, after the Bronchos put three in the net, Hudson buckled down and prevented any chance of the Bronchos to answer the Cyclones’ comeback, which was fueled in part thanks to conditioning.

“We had a great week of practice,” Murdoch said. “Our conditioning started to show in the second period. We were bogged down last week, but were a step quicker tonight.”

The Cyclones look for the series sweep Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.