DULUTH, Minn. — The University of Minnesota Duluth built a 3-0 second-period lead and went on to hold off the University of Maine men’s hockey team 3-2 on Saturday night to sweep its weekend series with the Black Bears at Amsoil Arena.
UMD, the defending NCAA Division I national champion, is now 4-1-1 this fall after extending its winning streak to four matches. UMaine is 2-2 heading into its Hockey East openers next Friday night and Saturday afternoon at the University of Connecticut.
UMaine got a 41-save performance by goalie Jeremy Swayman — his biggest single-game total since he stopped 45 shots against Quinnipiac last Dec. 9 — but the Black Bears struggled offensively after Minnesota Duluth had developed what turned out to be an insurmountable lead.
Still, while UMD outshot UMaine 44-20 the game was in considerable contrast to the series opener on Friday night, when the Buldogs scored five unanswered goals during the final two periods to pull away to an 8-2 victory.
“No matter what happens on Friday, you have to be prepared to bring it every night,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin. “That’s a good lesson for us. I didn’t think our intensity level (Saturday) was where it was (Friday) night. I did like the character and resiliency we showed in the last six to eight minutes. At the end of the day it was a different kind of win — the kind that you find a little more about your team.”
Junior left wing Riley Tufte, one of eight Bulldogs to score in Friday’s victory, gave UMD a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal 2:50 into the match. The goal came just six seconds after UMaine’s Eduards Tralmaks was called for a roughing penalty at 2:50.
Tufte one-timed a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle off a cross-ice feed from Scott Perunovich.
UMaine nearly tied the match later in the period as Jacob Schmidt-Svejstrup wristed a shot from the faceoff circle that deflected off the crossbar and hit the side post.
The puck then bounced underneath Minnesota Duluth goaltender Hunter Shepard as play was called to a stop, but after a quick review it was ruled no goal.
UMD extended its lead with two second-period goals. Freshman center Noah Cates connected with a wrist shot from the right faceoff dot at 5:35 of the period. Perunovich again assisted on the play, as the sophomore All-American defenseman intercepted a neutral-zone pass and redirected the puck to Cates.
Ten minutes later, freshman left wing Cole Koepke scored his first collegiate goal on a turnaround shot from amid a scramble near the cage to make it 3-0.
UMaine’s offense finally broke through with 2:21 left in the middle period as Rob Michel scored just the second power-play goal yielded by UMD so far this season.
The play began as Tralmaks cycled the puck to Mitchell Fossier, who found an open Michel just inside the blue line. The pass was true, and Michel one-timed his shot past Shepard to draw the Black Bears within 3-1.
Schmidt-Svejstrup made it a one-goal game at 4:45 of the third period, scoring from point-blank range in front of the Minnesota Duluth goal.
Chase Pearson had gathered the puck behind the cage and fed Schmidt-Svejstrup as he was racing toward the goal, and the freshman re-directed the pass into the open net.
UMaine pulled Swayman was less than a minute remaining in an effort to apply additional offensive pressure, but while Fossier had a shot saved and subsequently reviewed by the officials the Black Bears were unable to tie the match.
Shepard, playing in his 45th consecutive game for Minnesota Duluth, finished with 18 saves.