St. Cloud, Minn.  --- Second-rated Minnesota State took a one-goal lead midway the second period, but could not hold on as #8 St. Cloud State claimed a 3-2 victory over the visiting Mavericks Friday at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
 
The Mavericks dropped to 3-2-0 on the season with tonight's loss.
 
St. Cloud State, coming off a two-game sweep over Wisconsin last weekend, led 1-0 after the first period of play when Zack Okabe's screen shot from the top of the high slot found the back of the net at 13:30.
 
Minnesota State took a 2-1 lead during the second period on goals from Sam Morton and Tony Malinowski.
 
Morton's goal came on the power play on a tap in after a great pass from defenseman Akito Hirose at 2:56 and Malinowski's goal (his second career marker) came during a delayed penalty on SCSU when the junior defenseman wired a shot from the top of the left circle at 9:28.  The Huskies knotted things up on a goal from Grant Cruikshank right before the end of the period and the two teams entered the locker room tied at 2-2 after 40 minutes of action.
 
The Huskies tallied a power play goal at 0:35 of the third to take 3-2 lead when Kyler Kupka found a loose puck in the crease and jammed it in and the Huskies held on the rest of the way to claim the win.
 
Freshman netminder Keenan Rancier stopped 25 shots in the game and now stands 1-2-0 for the season.
 
The Mavericks (3-2-0) and the Huskies (5-0-0) continue nonconference action Saturday in St. Cloud with a 6:00 p.m. face-off scheduled.
 
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