For the second consecutive afternoon, St. Cloud State unleashed shot after shot at Minnesota State sophomore Britni Kehler. For the second consecutive afternoon, Kehler turned aside every one of them.
Stopping all 56 shots she faced on the weekend, including 26 on Saturday afternoon, Kehler extended her school record of career shutouts to seven as Minnesota State defeated St. Cloud 2-0 to sweep the weekend series at the National Hockey Center.
“You can play well and not get a shutout,” Kehler said after the game. “This weekend, my team really helped me out and made things so much easier for me.”
Of Kehler’s seven career shutouts, three have come against St. Cloud (3-8-1, 3-8-1 WCHA) at the National Hockey Center.
Early on, the first period was marked by sloppy but disciplined play by both sides, with plenty of shooting but few quality scoring opportunities being given up by either team. Minnesota State’s Autumn Conway had the first decent scoring chance with about 16 minutes gone in the first frame, but her shot rang off the post following a shot from the blue line.
Minnesota State (9-4-1, 6-3-1) notched the game’s first goal on the only power play opportunity for either team during the first period. St. Cloud sophomore Kendall Newell made the initial save from a shot by Conway, but Maverick sophomore Kristina Bunker was there to pick up the rebound, wristing the puck into the back of the net to put MSU up 1-0 with under two minutes to go in the first.
“We’ve been working on the power play lately,” Bunker said. “We struggled earlier in the year but seem to be finding the net a lot more now.”
Late in the second, Minnesota State would convert on its second power play opportunity of the game in nearly the same fashion. A shot by Bunker in front of the SCSU net was saved by Newell, but the rebound to the left was scooped up by sophomore wing Noelle Needham into a wide open net to give the Mavericks a two-goal advantage.
Three minutes into the final stanza, St. Cloud State went on the power play and had several quality looks during the advantage, but still could not find a way to fool Kehler. Pulling Newell as time grew short did not solve the problem.
“We came out pretty flat during the first two periods,” said St. Cloud State coach Jason Lesteberg. “We changed up lines for the third period and found a lot of good looks at the net, a lot of good chances, but ultimately we just weren’t able to put one in.”
Minnesota State was perfect on the power play and the penalty kill alike, going 5-for-5 on special teams on the afternoon.
“Our best penalty killer is Brit [Kehler],” said Minnesota State coach Jeff Vizenor. “She leads us on the penalty kill, and obviously when you combine that with the success we had on the power play, it’s always going to help you in the end.”
St. Cloud State travels to Wayne State next weekend for two nonconference matchups. Minnesota State is idle until December 2, when they travel to No. 2 Minnesota-Duluth for the first of a two game set.
