Mankato, Minn. ---   Minnesota State jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead and never trailed in picking up a 5-3 win over Bowling Green Saturday in Mankato.

Tonight's win, combined with Friday's 9-2 victory, gave the host Mavericks a two-game league sweep over the Falcons.

Senior winger Julian Napravnik cashed in on a power play chance for the game's first goal at 2:22 of the opening period, one-timing a pass from Akito Hirose from the right circle past Christian Stoever for his fifth goal of the year.  It became a 2-0 Minnesota State lead when sophomore center Ondrej Pavel made a nice move in front of the net to beat Stoever at 3:39 for his third goal of the year. Junior forward Lucas Sowder tallied his first goal of the season with his power play marker coming at 16:50 and the Mavericks entered the locker room at the end of the opening period owning a 3-0 lead.

The visiting Falcons capitalized on a couple of power plays with goals from Taylor Schneider at 3:18 and Nathan Burke at 18:04 in the middle period to pull within one. 

Senior defenseman Benton Maass connected on a shot from the point at 5:16 of the third to make it a 4-2 Minnesota State lead. But, Bowling Green kept chipping away and at 11:38, Alex Barber's tip at the side of the net with the Falcons on the power play once again made it a one-goal game.  Junior winger Sam Morton one-timed a shot from the right circle at 14:17 with his power play goal closing out the scoring in the game.

The Mavericks, who converted on three of six power play chances in the game, outshot the Falcons by a 34-15 margin.  BGSU also scored three power play goals (on five chances). 

Sam Morton and Lucas Sowder both had two-point games, with each getting a goal and an assist. Sophomore defenseman Jake Livingstone also chipped in with two assists and junior center Nathan Smith, who assisted on Julian Napravnik's goal, has extended his point-scoring streak to eight games.

Senior netminder Dryden McKay, who stopped 12 shots, upped his record to 9-3-0 with the win.

Minnesota State, which stands 9-3-0 for 2021-22 (5-1-0 CCHA), continues CCHA action next week with a home game vs. St. Thomas Thursday and a road contest vs. the Tommies set for Saturday.

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