MANKATO, Minn. — Minnesota State (2-4-2) and Lake Superior St. (2-4-2) skated to a 2-2 tie Saturday at Mayo Clinic HSEC, with LSSU prevailing in the shootout 3-2. MSU held a 31-30 edge in shots and went 1-for-6 on the power play while holding LSSU scoreless on four chances.
Minnesota State is 2-4-2 overall and 0-0-2 in conference play. Lake Superior State is 2-4-2 overall and 0-2-2 in conference play.
Minnesota State had the first power-play chance after William Samuelsson was called for tripping at 1:14, but LSSU killed it off and later moved in front when Raoul Boilard scored at 6:41 off an Ethan Moore assist. The Lakers then went to the power play after
Reid Morich's tripping penalty at 7:43, and
Lassi Lehti made four saves during the advantage to keep Minnesota State within one.
Minnesota State pushed back through the middle and late stages of the period with chances from
Mason Kraft,
Luigi Benincasa,
Ean Somoza,
Liam Hupka,
Jakob Stender and
Mason LeBel, but Anders Miller kept the Mavericks off the board. Lehti added late saves on Casper Nassen and Nolan Seed, and Lake Superior State carried a 1-0 lead through the end of the first period.
Lake Superior State created early pressure in the second period, and Minnesota State killed
Will Skahan's high-sticking penalty after Lehti handled a Calem Mangone shot and
Jack Christ blocked Nolan Seed's attempt. Minnesota State generated its own power-play looks after Hunter Ramos was called for hooking at 8:28, with
Liam Watkins,
Alex Zetterberg and
Rylan Bonkowski putting shots on Anders Miller, but the chance passed without a goal. A Hupka hooking minor put Lake Superior St. back on the power play at 6:02, and Minnesota State got through that stretch as Lehti saved Casper Nassen's shot and Lake Superior St. missed its other looks.
After matching penalties and a late Raoul Boilard five-minute hitting-from-behind penalty gave Minnesota State a power play, Kraft scored with 19 seconds left off assists from Zetterberg and Benincasa to tie the game at 1-1 entering intermission. It was Kraft's first power-play goal of the season.
Minnesota State carried the early pressure in the third period, generating a series of attempts before Lake Superior State completed its penalty kill at 15:59. The Mavericks had another power-play chance midway through the period, and after LSSU pushed back with chances from Hunter Ramos, Markus Loponen, Carter Batchelder and Calem Mangone, Somoza scored at 4:56 off assists from Kraft and Hupka to put Minnesota State ahead 2-1.
The Lakers had a power play shortly after the goal, but had to pull their goalie late to tie the game at 2-2 with :25 to go on Ethan Moore's extra-attacker goal from Cooper Foster and Joey Potter.
Overtime opened with LSSU generating the first chance, as Nolan Seed had an attempt at 4:16 with Lehti credited with the save. Minnesota State moved to the power play at 2:41 after Cooper Foster was called for tripping and created six shot attempts during the advantage, including three from Watkins and one each from Kraft, Benincasa,
Reid Morich and
Rylan Bonkowski. Lake Superior State killed off the penalty at :41, and William Samuelsson put one more attempt on Lehti at :02 before the overtime ended without a goal.
Benincasa gave Minnesota State its first conversion in the shootout after Lehti stopped the first two Lake Superior St. attempts and
Jordan Ronn missed for the Mavericks. Ethan Moore answered for LSSU, and the teams traded misses through the next three rounds. Carter Batchelder scored for Lake Superior State before Morich matched it for Minnesota State, but Hunter Ramos converted the next attempt and Christ was stopped on the final Minnesota State chance in the eighth round to end the shootout at 3-2 in favor of the Lakers.
Kraft scored on the power play, added an assist and finished with five shots. Somoza scored on three shots and posted a +1 rating. Lehti finished with 28 saves while allowing two goals. Morich won nine faceoffs and posted a 69% faceoff rate.
Up next, Minnesota State visits Northern Michigan on Friday, Nov. 6, at 6:07 p.m. (CST) at Berry Events Center in Marquette, Mich.
