ST. CLOUD, Minn. — Coming into the game Friday night, St. Cloud State hadn’t tasted victory in over a month.
After a three-goal loss at Bemidji State followed by a sweep in Omaha two weeks later, SCSU knew it needed to right some wrongs and did just that against 14th-ranked Quinnipiac.
Judd Peterson’s early third-period goal broke a tie and the Huskies held off the Bobcats late for a 3-2 victory in the first meeting between the two teams since the 2013 Frozen Four in Pittsburgh, a 4-1 Quinnipiac victory that sent the Bobcats to the championship game.
“They found a way to gut it out,” Huskies’ coach Bob Motzko said of his team, who won for the first time since a 6-3 victory at Bemidji State on Nov. 28. “We needed to win. After the last couple weeks before break, we need to come back and feel good. And they should feel good about that win.”
The Huskies put three even-strength goals on the board, a weakness which has hurt the team at a few points this season.
The loss tonight snapped a two-game winning streak for the Bobcats, who had also won four of their last five.
As the game got going, SCSU started to take control with a strong offensive zone forecheck and two power plays. But Quinnipiac’s penalty kill, which came in at over 85 percent for the year, calmly killed them both. They also completely controlled the faceoff circle early on, winning 14 of 19 first-period draws.
One faceoff win in the Husky zone to the right of goaltender Charlie Lindgren, who made 26 saves, led to pressure in front of the net, and a puck trickled in off Matthew Peca at 18:22 to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead after one.
“I thought we were controlling the game and I thought we were playing better,” said St. Cloud State defenseman Tim Daly, who had an assist. “We stuck with our game.”
But it didn’t come easy.
Just over eight minutes into the second period, Quinnipiac doubled its lead. On a rush into the SCSU zone, Justin Agosta made a pretty deke that completely fooled Lindgren, then scored five-hole to make it 2-0.
But St. Cloud State jumped back into it two and a half minutes later when David Morley roofed one home in front of Bobcats’ goaltender Michael Garteig. Daniel Tedesco then buried a rebound on Garteig’s short side with under six minutes left to make it 2-2 after two periods.
“Obviously big goals to get us even,” Motzko said. “After you get down [two goals], you can’t take chances, but we found a way to keep moving forward.”
Indeed they did.
Early on in the third period, the Huskies completed their rally as Peterson let one go from the left circle and the puck trickled in behind Garteig, who stopped 34 SCSU shots, at 1:41. It gave St. Cloud State a lead it wouldn’t relinquish despite late pressure from Quinnipiac with the extra attacker.
“It came out in the neutral zone, and we made a quick transition,” Peterson said of his game-winner. “[Niklas Nevalainen] passed it to me back-door. Good pass and good vision by Nevalainen.
“I had no idea it went in. I heard it hit the pipe or something, then all of a sudden, I just saw it behind the goal line.”
The Huskies know how big their win was, and starting 2015 off in the right direction was a huge step toward saving their season.
“I thought we played a very strong game,” said Motzko. “We showed some rust, but we got it off.”
St. Cloud State will attempt their first sweep of the season tomorrow night as it concludes the series with Quinnipiac at 7:07 CDT. In the process, the Bobcats will try to avoid their first sweep as well as their first losing streak of the season.
