Marquette, Mich. ---  Fifth-rated Minnesota State got goal from five different players and a stellar performance in net from junior goaltender Dryden McKay in a 5-0 win at Northern Michigan Saturday.

The Mavericks, who cashed in on three of six power play opportunities in the victory, jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead in besting the host Wildcats.

Senior center Jared Spooner opened the scoring when he took a pass from Brendan Furry and beat Connor Ryckman from the left circle at 5:16.The goal is the first of the year for Spooner. Just over two minutes later, with the Mavericks on a power play, sophomore forward Nathan Smith made it 2-0 when he tallied his first goal of the year when he one-timed a shot from the left dot. Sophomore forward Cade Borchardt tallied his fourth goal of the year at 10:43 on a tap in off of a feed from Smith and it became a 4-0 lead after junior forward Julian Napravnik collected his fourth of the year on a power play goal at 13:20.

Following a scoreless second period in which Minnesota State outshot NMU by a 7-1 margin, senior forward Dallas Gerads connected on his second goal of the season with a power play marker at 13:18 of the final stanza to close out the scoring in the game.

Dryden McKay, an All-American last year and the 2019-20 WCHA Goaltender of the Year, stopped all 16 shots he faced in the game in upping his record on the season to 4-1-0.  The shutout is the third of the season for the Downers Grove, Ill., native and he now has 17 career shutouts in moving into a tie with Hunter Shepard (Minnesota Duluth 2017-20) for eighth all-time in NCAA Division I men's hockey.

Nathan Smith finished the game with three points on a goal and two assists. Cade Borchardt had a goal and an assist and freshman defenseman Akito Hirose, the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Week, had two assists.

The Mavericks and the Wildcats close out the two-game WCHA series Sunday with a 3:07 p.m. CST face-off.