MANKATO, Minn. – St. Thomas capitalized early and held on late to beat Minnesota State 4-2 Saturday night at Mayo Health Clinic Event Center in front of 4,973 boisterous fans.
 
Aaron Trotter notched 33 saves and Cooper Gay scored a pair of goals for the Tommies, who reclaimed their position at the top of the CCHA standings with the weekend split.
 
St. Thomas took advantage of early Maverick mistakes. After a failed clear, Gay turned around and scored just below the dot, shooting to the stick side at 1:16. Mack Byers assisted.
 
The Tommies made it 2-0 at 8:44. Liam Malmquist collected a loose puck behind the Maverick goal and lifted it past goaltender Alex Tracy.
 
MSU forward Josh Groll nearly scored from the point but officials ruled there was contact with the goaltender upon review.
 
Minutes later Brian Carrabes cashed in on the power play after Luc Wilson's cross-ice pass found his forehand for a one-timer at 13:26.
 
The Mavericks enjoyed a brief 5-on-3 advantage but Groll's major penalty for checking from behind sent the teams into the locker room 4-on-4 with the Mavericks trailing 2-1.
 
Gay tipped in his second of the night as the Mavericks tried to kill the latter half of Groll's penalty to open the second. Luc Laylin took the shot from the top of the circle and Ryan O'Neill collected the second assist at 2:03.
 
Groll helped the Mavericks inch back to a one-goal deficit at even strength. Tony Malinowski whipped a wrist shot from the right point and Groll found the rebound in front of Trotter to bury his seventh of the year. Brian Carrabes also assisted at 10:20 and Minnesota State outshot St. Thomas 13-3 in the middle period.
 
The Mavericks continued to pressure in the third. Trotter made an outstanding stop on Sam Morton's breakaway chance. He then dove across the crease to kick out Adam Eisele's second opportunity late on the power play. In a final push for an equalizer with the net empty, Eisele collected a rebound off the end boards and rang the puck off the far post.
 
With just 24 seconds remaining, Mack Byers golfed the puck down the length of the ice for the empty net goal to seal the win for the visitors. Trotter's poke check pass earned him an assist.
 
"We don't want to chase outcomes; we want to chase play," said head coach Luke Strand. "I think we're going to find ourselves doubling up their chances, getting looks. Trotter played excellent in net but we chased the game because our miscues were right on their tape. But I was proud of the guys' response. I think we stuck to the right things and continued to fight the right way."
 
"We have a lot of respect for that team and we know they're a good team," Carrabes said. "We knew it was going to come right down to the end and we didn't think it was going to be easy. I thought their goalie played really good. We tried to do everything we could but it's just one of those nights that didn't go our way."
 
The Mavericks finished 1-5 on the power play while the Tommies went 1-4. Tracy turned aside 17 UST shots.
 
Minnesota State (14-10-4, 10-6-2 CCHA) plays at Michigan Tech next weekend in Houghton, Michigan with six games left in the regular season. St. Thomas (13-12-1, 11-7-0 CCHA) is in Sioux Falls Friday to take on Augustana.