Mankato, Minn--- Minnesota State battled back from a two-goal deficit, but eventually fell in overtime to tenth-rated Minnesota-Duluth Saturday in front of 4,680 fans at the Verizon Wireless Center in downtown Mankato.
The final score of the contest was 4-3 in favor of the Bulldogs and MSU has now lost its last four contests.
The Mavericks started strong whensenior defenseman Nick Canzanello got the Mavericks on the scoreboard at 13:16 of the first period with a shot from the point. UMD defenseman Mike Montgomery chipped at the puck, but it found its way into the net for Canzanello’s second goal of the season.
Just 31 seconds into the second period UMD took advantage on the power play when sophomore defenseman Brady Lamb ripped a shot from the blue line to tie the game at 1-1. Moments later with UMD still on the power-play, MSU sophomore goaltender Austin Lee made an outstanding save on a one-timer shot to prevent the Bulldogs from taking the lead. However, at 7:25 of the second, UMD answered with a goal when sophomore center Travis Oleksuk won the faceoff in the offensive zone and junior winger Rob Bordson quickly rifled the puck off the post and in the net to give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead.
With just over seven minutes left in the second period MSU senior winger Kael Mouillierat laid a bone-crushing hit on UMD defenseman Scott Kishel that brought the Verizon Wireless Center alive. Kishel laid on the ice for a moment, but got up on his own power and headed to the locker room and would later return. Mouillierat was assessed a five-minute penalty and a game disqualification for contact to the head and elbowing and with the man advantage UMD junior winger Justin Fontaine gave the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead at 16:17 of the second.
The Mavericks would later gain a two-man advantage and at the 18:02 mark of the second MSU sophomore Michael Dorr made it a 3-2 game on the power-play for his third goal of the season when he buried a one-timer shot off a pass from junior Rylan Galiardi.
The third period remained scoreless until the Mavericks pulled the goalie with a minute to go to send out the extra attacker. With eighteen seconds remaining MSU senior Jerad Stewart wired a shot from the right faceoff circle to tie the game 3-3 for his 12th goal of the season.
In the overtime period with 1:17 remaining, UMD sophomore Mike Connolly broke loose into the Mavericks zone and sniped the game-winning marker high to the Lee's glove side to give the Bulldogs the 4-3 victory and weekend sweep over MSU.
Now 11-13-2 overall and 5-12-1 in the WCHA, MSU outshot UMD by a 31-30 margin in the game.
MSU will look to end their four-game skid when they head on the road to face Michigan Tech January 29th and 30th.
