Though the lower seed in this series, the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs proved why they have the fourth best power play in the country, getting two power-play goals to beat the Colorado College Tigers, 4-1, in the first game of the best-of-three series Friday night at World Arena. <\/p>\n
The Tigers controlled play early, but they couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get anything past Bulldog netminder Alex Stalock (36 saves). <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought Al made some big saves early,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Duluth coach Scott Sandelin. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no question he was good early.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
As a result, the Bulldogs got on the board first at the tail end of a five minute power play thanks to a Cody Lampl checking from behind call. About halfway through the period and with 32 seconds remaining in the power play, Josh Meyers unleashed a slapshot from the right face-off circle that beat Tiger goaltender Richard Bachman (35 saves) under his right shoulder. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It happened early and it set the tone and we did a pretty good job killing it for about four and a half minutes until they score but it gave them life; it gave them momentum and life,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said CC coach Scott Owens. <\/p>\n
Duluth took a 2-0 lead with 1:58 left in the first period when MacGregor Sharp\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s power play shot from the slot beat Bachman five-hole. <\/p>\n
The Bulldogs went up 3-0 on another five-hole goal from the slot 7:21 into the second period with Jordan Fulton doing the honors. <\/p>\n
CC got on the board with about four minutes left in the middle period in the waning seconds of a 5-on-3 penalty. The Bulldogs cleared the puck out of their zone, but Bachman controlled the clear and quickly dished it to Eric Walsky for the breakaway. Walsky came down the center of the ice, cut to Stalock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right and slid it under the sprawling goaltender to make it a 3-1 game. <\/p>\n
Though the Tigers tried to get back into the game, the Bulldogs only furthered their lead with a goal four minutes into the third period when Justin Fontaine beat Bachman high glove side right off a face-off. <\/p>\n
The Tigers almost had a goal with 16.8 seconds remaining, but Stalock made a goal-line glove save on Scott McCulloch. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was huge for us to get the lead and build on that lead,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Sandelin. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought our [penalty-] killers did a great job, I thought Al came up big on certainly that last save [which] kind of epitomized his night, but you need your best players to play like your best players.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was there for us to get back into it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Owens, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153and it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen. They got better with confidence as they went along and I think their top guys outplayed our top guys tonight. <\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the end, you tell them, hey, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one game. You live to fight as a desperate team tomorrow and whatever happens, happens on Sunday. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not over.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
The two teams meet again on Saturday, March 14 at World Arena. Game time is at 7:05 p.m. Mountain. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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