Merrimack’s first outing was a wild, seesaw affair that saw a 3-0 lead turn into a 5-3 disadvantage. When all was said and done, it went into the books as a 6-6 tie, although St. Lawrence advanced to the championship game on the strength of a 2-1 shootout win that needed nine rounds.

In yesterday’s consolation game, the Warriors (11-3-3) dominated in shots on goal (41-18), but needed a strong, sustained effort to earn a 3-0 victory over the Crusaders (8-9-0). Senior Joe Cannata made 18 saves for his seventh career shutout and second of the season.

“When you start to tilt the ice a little bit and you spend that much time in the offensive zone, a lot of times you’re going to get power plays, so we had plenty of practice,’’ said Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy, whose team was 1 for 5 on the man-advantage with 11 shots. “That’s a good team. I saw that team play Dartmouth [in the nightcap Friday in a 3-2 loss] and they very easily could have won. I think that team could come out of the Atlantic League and play in the NCAA Tournament. We played that well tonight, I thought we really played well, and [Holy Cross] played the late game [Friday] and you don’t know what effect that’s going to have on their legs. That’s a good Holy Cross team. Paul Pearl is as good a coach as there is in college hockey, and to get a win against his program is something to be proud about.’’

Merrimack’s power-play goal came during a two-man advantage in the second period. At 6:41, Mike Collins dished a pass to senior defenseman Karl Stollery, who one-timed a shot from the right circle that beat junior Thomas Tysowsky (38 saves).

The tally ended an 0 for 25 streak on the power play. Merrimack’s last power-play goal had been Dec. 2 against Providence in its first loss of the season after a 9-0-1 start.

The Warriors doubled their lead at 5:28 of the third with the teams skating four a side. Sophomore defenseman Jordan Heywood skated into the right circle and fired a wrist shot from the faceoff dot that beat Tysowsky through the five-hole.

Merrimack added a third at 13:05, junior right wing Brandon Brodhag potting his third of the season.

One of the goals the Warriors had coming out of the holiday break was to get pucks to the net. Over the weekend, they landed 80 shots, scoring nine goals.

“We were just shooting a little bit quicker from the points [during the power play], we were getting guys in front,’’ said sophomore defenseman Brendan Ellis, who had three assists Friday. “Sometimes it clicks like that and pucks get through and you get the bounces. It finally all came together. Our game plan was just to shoot from everywhere. Their goalie played well, but if you shoot the puck that many times, something good is bound to happen. We got some goals out of it.’’

The Warriors’ schedule doesn’t get any easier. They play at Boston University Friday night and at Boston College a week from today.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at marrapese@globe.com.