The Panthers couldn’t be happier that Charlie Murphy is back on the ice.

Murphy returned to the team Saturday after serving the MIAA mandatory two-game suspension for an ejection in the Panthers’ win over the Scituate Sailors, and he took out his pent up frustration on the Silver Lake Lakers at Hobomock Ice Arena.

Murphy scored a natural hat trick, three straight goals, in his return to lead the Panthers to a 4-1 win over the Lakers, the team’s second straight win and third in the last four games.

Murphy tied the game with 9:40 to play in the first period and then gave the Panthers the lead in the second period when he corralled a Chris Boussy pass that missed the stick of Nick Pike and then chipped in his own rebound. He then finished the hat trick by snapping a wrister past Evan Fagerberg with 6:30 left in the third period off another pass from Boussy.

“Charlie was due,” head coach Rich Manning said. “He hasn’t gotten on the board in a while and he’s been playing hard in all zones. It was a great game for him to break out and pick up the scoring slack.”

Joe Lochran gave the Lakers the lead 45 seconds into the game, and Silver Lake remained the aggressors for most of the first period before Murphy was able to pull the Panthers even. Murphy’s second goal 3:33 into the second period took the wind out of the sails for the Lakers temporarily, but they continued to attack the Panther net. Both Conor Smith and Andrew Cenard broke free of the Panther defense to get open looks at the net, but Mike Bonavita denied both bids to keep the Panthers ahead going into the final period.

“We made a couple of mistakes and they pounced on them, but Michael has been rock solid,” Manning said. “Sometimes you make that crucial mistake and you need that goalie to bail you out. More often than not, he’s been there for us.”

Twice the Lakers missed an open net in the early minutes of the third, and the Panthers made them pay when Boussy tipped his own rebound back to Murphy to give the Whitman-Hanson a two-goal lead.

The Panthers got some added insurance with 5:14 to play when Jake Bowen fought through a logjam in front of the Laker net to get a pass from Chris Ryan and slide a shot past Fagerberg.

“We were really happy when they got that,” Manning said. “Our second line does a good job and really focus on their defensive responsibilities first, so it was really great to see those guys get one. They earned it.”

The win marked the first time this season the Panthers have won back-to-back games. Though the Panthers had nearly a week off since their win over New Bedford last Monday, the team showed little rink rust to get revenge on a team that beat them 6-3 last month.

“We had a lot of motivation for tonight,” Manning said. “Not getting swept by Silver Lake and getting ahead of them in the standings was part of it, but it was a big night on many fronts in a very important win. The kids are doing a great job staying positive. If we play all out against every team, we have a chance against anybody. The kids believe in that and hopefully we can keep the ball rolling.”

The will look to keep their winning streak going against the Duxbury Dragons before returning to Hobomock on Saturday to play the Hanover Indians.