The captains were clutch for Greenwich High School’s girls ice hockey team against Trumbull/St. Joseph Thursday night at Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink.

Three of the Cardinals’ captains, Peyton Jelinek, Caroline Lawrence and Sophie Roth, registered goals, giving the team its second victory in as many games.

Tallying twice during the decisive third period, Greenwich skated to a well-earned 3-1 victory over Trumbull/St. Joseph in a late-night game at Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink in Greenwich.

With the come-from-behind win, the Cardinals upped their record to 2-4 overall, after starting the season with four straight losses. Greenwich’s first triumph of the season was a 6-4 triumph against Ridgefield/Danbury/Immaculate at the Winter Classic, held at Greenwich Skating Club’s outdoor rink on Dec. 29.

“It was a great comeback win,” Greenwich coach Doug Jebb said. “Down 1-0, they kept fighting and I believe it’s the first game of the season where we’ve outshot our opponent, which is our goal every single game.”

“Trumbull is a tough team,” Jebb continued. “I think we had the benefit of them playing back-to-back, they played Darien the night before. So the timing was a little more fortuitous for us then them, but they are a very tough team.”

With the score tied at 1-1 midway through the third period, Jelinek and Lawrence made sure the Cardinals ended the FCIAC matchup in victorious fashion.

Controlling the puck in Greenwich’s zone, Jelinek, a senior, who centers the squad’s first line, skated almost the length of the ice down the right wing, before changing directions. She stated toward the middle with the puck, then snapped a backhanded shot past Trumbull/St. Joseph freshman goalie Lucy Kimberly, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 lead with 7:35 remaining in the third period. Junior forward Grace Popp assisted on Jelinek’s go-ahead goal.

“I saw that Grace was on the boards and she was pushing it up and I was able to swoop in and skate it down,” Jelinek said of her goal. “I was able to get that shot off and backhand it in.”

The Cardinals achieved the consistency they were hoping for, playing well on both ends of the ice in each period.

“We knew that they had a game last night and we tried to catch them early,” Jelinek noted. “They’re a good team and we knew that we had to give it our all. We weren’t able to get the first goal, but we were able to bounce back quickly.”

On a power play, the Cards extended their lead, gaining all-important breathing room. Lawrence, a senior forward, knocked in a rebound off a Jelinek shot at the 6:33 mark of the final period, putting the home team on top, 3-1.

The Cardinals have indeed, noticed the improvement they’ve made each game.

“In the beginning of the season, we played a lot of good teams and we also got to learn from them,” Lawrence said. “We had a lot of practices where we worked on the things we needed to in order to get better. We’ve been able to put those into the games and get a win out of it.”

Trumbull/St. Joseph (1-7) tallied the first goal, with 8:48 remaining in the opening period. Junior forward Mary Stowe had the rebound goal, with the assist going to junior defender Sophia Couture. Greenwich knotted the score at 1-1, courtesy of Roth, who plays left wing.

Roth’s equalizer occurred with 9:50 to go in the second period, with the Cardinals applying pressure in Trumbull/St. Joseph’s zone. Jelinek was credited with the assist.

“We had a 2-on-1, Peyton Jelinek had a nice shot and it came off the goalie’s pads and I was able to pick it up and have a nice wide open shot,” Roth said of her tying goal.

Greenwich senior goalie Emma Kunschner made 22 saves for the win. Kimberly had 25 saves for Trumbull/St. Joseph. Kunschner has been consistent between the pipes for the Cardinals, who have an effective rotation of defenders in sophomore Lexi Carino, junior Lindsay Allen, senior Hannah Wahl and freshman Daphne Martinez.

“Both goaltenders were very good,” Jebb said. “It was a good team effort. Our defense played really well. We got the puck out of our zone, better than we had all season and except for a couple of lapses here and there, we stayed firm in our own zone, especially in periods two and three. We didn’t give them second opportunities.”

Said Lawrence: “With four ‘D”, they have been working really hard and we’ve been able to get it out of the zone to score.”

Greenwich hosts the combined Fairfield Warde/Ludlowe co-op squad Tuesday at Dorothy Hamill Skating Rink at 4:30 p.m.

“They (Trumbull/St. Joseph) are definitely a good team, they had a lot of opportunities in the second period and third, so we were getting a little nervous, but we knew if we stayed composed, we would come out with the with the win,” said Roth, a senior. “Coming off these two wins, we know we have the skill to beat teams, we just need to continue to create a lot of opportunities in our offensive zone and think of defense first and work our way up.”

“There’s a little bit of a confidence factor that comes with winning,” Jebb said. “Of our first four games, two of them were 2-1 losses and those can eat at you. What we’ve seen is that they skate to the game plan and when we move our sticks and get the puck in, good things happen.”

After hosting Warde-Ludlowe on Tuesday, Greenwich faces visiting Stamford/Westhill/Staples on Friday.

“This is our second win in a row, so we’re hoping that this will give us good momentum going forward,” Jelinek said.