Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. ---   Sam Morton scored twice and assisted on another and Riese Zmolek had three assists as #4 Minnesota State skated to a 6-2 win at 19th-ranked Lake Superior State Saturday.

The win gives the Mavericks a 7-1-1 overall record and a 4-0-0 WCHA mark and extends their unbeaten streak to six games.

Morton, who is in his first year with Minnesota State after spending two seasons at Union and a year playing junior hockey with Wenatchee of the British Columbia Hockey League, got his first goal in the Purple and Gold when he cashed in on a rebound opportunity 10:28 of the opening stanza. It became a 2-0 Minnesota State lead at 15:41 when senior forward Dallas Gerads found a loose puck in front of the net and put a backhander past Marek Mittens on the glove side for his third goal of the season.

Morton got his second of the game at 3:39 of the second period and it came on a nice passing play that saw the Lafayette, Colo., native finish off a power play with Cade Borchardt and Nathan Smith drawing assists. Senior defenseman Jack McNeely got his first goal of the season at 10:11 on a screen shot from the top of the right circle to make it 4-0. Lake Superior State got on the board at 14:10 when Miroslav Mucha flipped the puck over Jack McNeely left shoulder and the Lakers cut the lead to 4-2 at 15:41 on a shorthanded marker by Yuki Miura.

Third-period goals by senior winger Reggie Lutz and rookie defenseman Jake Livingstone closed out the scoring in the contest.

Zmolek's three assists marked his first career three-point game. Gerads had a goal and an assist for a two-point night.

Dryden McKay, who's now 7-1-0 for the season, stopped 16 shots in the win. McKay entered tonight with three straight shutouts and the goal by Mucha ended his consecutive shutout minutes streak at 217:37. The three straight shutouts by McKay marks the second time in his career he's accomplished the feat as he also had three consecutive shutouts in 2019-20 for a streak that lasted 234:25.

Next action for the Mavericks is next weekend when WCHA-foe Ferris State visits the Key City for games Friday and Saturday.

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