Mankato, Minn. ---   It was a case of close, but no cigar for Minnesota State in men's hockey Friday in a home contest versus Minnesota-Duluth.

The tenth-rated Bulldogs scored twice in the second period and then held on for a 2-1 win over MSU in front of 4,075 fans at Verizon Wireless Center in downtown Mankato.

After neither team was able to find the back of the net in the opening frame, the game remained tight half way into the second period until a Kael Mouillierat slashing penalty gave UMD the man advantage and at 11:55 into the second sophomore forward David Grun notched his first career goal on the power-play. No more than 30 seconds later, at the 12:22 mark in the second, freshman defenseman Dylan Olsen unleashed a blistering slap shot from just inside the blue line over the glove of sophomore goaltender Austin Lee for his first career goal. 

MSU gained the man advantage early in the third period when UMD’s Scott Kishel was called for hooking and the Mavericks wasted no time.  With the Mavericks on the power play, senior winger Kael Mouillierat cleaned up the garbage in front of the net by muscling the puck under the pads of UMD goaltender Kenny Reiter for his seventh goal of the season. The play went under review by the officials and was confirmed a goal at 1:54, making it a 2-1 Bulldogs lead. The Mavericks battled the rest away, but was unable to capitalize on their opportunities and UMD escaped with a 2-1 victory.

Outshot 31-24 in the game, the Mavericks are now 11-12-2 overall and 5-11-1 in the WCHA. 

The Mavericks play host to the Bulldogs again Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Center.