Bulldogs Eke Past Mavericks

After killing off three penalties through a period and a half, Minnesota State contained the Minnesota-Duluth power play to keep the game scoreless. Then the Mavericks found how difficult it was to keep the WCHA’s best power play down.

David Grun scored on a cross from Rob Bordson with 1:20 left on the man advantage to put the Bulldogs on the board and up for good as UMD beat MSU 2-1 Friday at the Verizon Wireless Center. The win puts the Bulldogs in a first place tie with Denver who is idle weekend.

“That was a huge goal because we really wanted that first one,” said Grun, a sophomore right-winger whose goal Friday was the first point of his career. “Bordson made an excellent pass from the other side. (MSU) had a good PK and we were just lucky to get one tonight.”

It was Bordson’s league-leading 24th assist of the season and Mike Montgomery got the other assist. UMD’s Dylan Olsen registered his first career goal just 27 seconds later when he fired a slap shot from the high slot to put his team up 2-0. Mike Connolly and Justin Fontaine assisted on Olsen’s goal.

“We had a really good second period and that was the difference in the game,” said UMD coach Scott Sandelin.

MSU, which had been outshot 23-13 after two periods, began to pour it on in the third. The Mavericks put 11 shots on goal in the third period and made UMD goaltender Kenny Reiter work for every save but the Mavericks could only muster one goal.

The Bulldogs’ Scott Kishel went to the box for hooking at 1:31 of the third period and 23 seconds later, Kael Mouillierat tapped in a loose puck amid a scrum in the crease. Jared Stewart and Geoff Irwin got the assists on the play.

“You have to score more than one goal to win,” said MSU coach Troy Jutting. “They want to score, it’s just not going in.”

The Mavericks had a 2-on-1 rush late in the third period while shorthanded but Olsen broke up Irwin’s potential centering pass.

“I told (Olsen) it’s a good thing he’s big and long,” Sandelin said. “I don’t know if they would’ve scored but Dylan made a great defensive play. You need those plays to win games.”

Reiter came up with crucial saves that preserved the lead for the Bulldogs all the way to the last second. Mouillierat took a cross-rink pass with two seconds left and let a shot fly from the blue line but Reiter made the save at the buzzer. It was the last of Reiter’s 23 saves.

“(Reiter) made some key saves that didn’t allow us to build any momentum at all,” Jutting said. “We have to score more than one goal. That’s not going to win many hockey games.”

Austin Lee put in a good performance in goal for MSU, stopping 29 shots. The Bulldogs outshot the Mavericks 31-24.

Jutting said his team played well Friday despite the second period in which the Mavericks were outshot 16-4.

“I thought we did a good job on the penalty kill. If you would’ve told me we were going to be even on special teams, I would’ve taken that in a second,” Jutting said. “We sent three guys to the box in the second period and when you spend six minutes in the box, the other team gets momentum.”

The Bulldogs will go for the sweep and try to go two points up on Denver when UMD and MSU meet again at 7:07 Saturday at the Verizon Wireless Center.

“It was one of those gritty road wins that you one to expect in this league,” Sandelin said.