It was almost like watching a repeat performance. The only difference was that the bad team from Friday performed well Saturday, and vice versa.
Thanks to a more disciplined approach to the game like UMD had on Friday, the St. Cloud State Huskies escaped Duluth with a huge conference split.
David Morley scored twice, and Charlie Lindgren made 21 saves as St. Cloud State defeated No. 6 Minnesota-Duluth Saturday night at AMSOIL Arena to earn a weekend split.
“We were playing responsible,” said St. Cloud State coach Bob Motzko. “You can’t turn pucks over to [Minnesota-Duluth]. They got such good team speed.”
“We did a much better job today,” added Morley. “Kinda learned from last night.”
Patrick Russell and Joey Benik had a goal and assist each for the Huskies, who improved to 19th in the PairWise rankings with the victory. The Bulldogs saw a four-game winning streak end, fell to fourth in the NCHC with the loss, and were never able to get started against a motivated St. Cloud team.
“We knew they were gonna come out,” said Minnesota-Duluth coach Scott Sandelin.
“That’s a big three points,” said Bulldogs forward Adam Krause, as his team wasted a chance to move into second place in the NCHC standings. “That’s tough to swallow right now. You gotta give St. Cloud a lot of credit.”
Neither team was able to score in the opening frame, but the Huskies scored first for the second straight night halfway through the second period. With a forecheck established, St. Cloud State put the pressure on and Morley floated one in past Bulldogs goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo (24 saves) for his 10th goal of the season to make it 1-0 after two periods.
“He was at center ice and he took off; straight line to the forecheck and made the play down below the goal line to break the play up,” said Motzko. “Comes back to him on hard work. It was a great play.”
Just like SCSU showed on Friday night, Minnesota-Duluth didn’t seem to have any energy to match their rival’s intensity, and they found themselves lucky to be down only by a goal. They were outshot 22-11 through two periods.
“That second period was probably one of our worst we’ve had in a long time,” said Sandelin. “But yet, it’s still a 1-0 game.”
Unlike Friday night, however, St. Cloud State (13-14-1, 8-9-1 NCHC) wouldn’t relinquish its one-goal lead. The Huskies doubled it 5:45 into the third period when Morley found pay dirt from the left circle, putting the Bulldogs down 2-0.
However, Minnesota-Duluth (18-11-1, 10-7-1 NCHC) refused to go quietly.
After Nick Oliver was called for holding with 13 minutes left, Austin Farley made the ensuing UMD power play brief when he buried a rebound of a Jared Thomas shot after just 18 seconds, pulling the Bulldogs back within striking distance.
“When we scored, we were right back in it,” said Krause.
“We had a couple good shifts after that,” added Sandelin. “Sometimes you just need that spark.”
Russell made sure Minnesota-Duluth wouldn’t get any closer by tallying a power-play goal of his own. After Carson Soucy was penalized for playing with a broken stick, Russell connected on a wrist shot from the slot to restore the two-goal lead. It was the only power-play goal of the weekend for St. Cloud State, and while their performance on the man-advantage was underwhelming, Morley knows that didn’t matter too much.
“We didn’t do great all weekend, but at the end of the day, if you score at a big-time moment, that really sealed the game for us,” he said.
Benik put the game on ice with an empty-net goal with just under three minutes remaining.
With the victory, the Huskies improved to 4-1 in their last five games at AMSOIL Arena, and avoided being swept in a season series by the Bulldogs for the first time since the 2007-08 season, when UMD won the only two matchups.
Despite the tough loss, the Bulldogs know they’re still one of the nation’s best teams.
“For the most part, we do well,” said Krause. “It’s not like we’re a bad team.”
They are a bit unhealthy at the moment. UMD played this weekend without four players: Brenden Kotyk, Nick McCormack, Sammy Spurrell, and Dominic Toninato. Sandelin did not have a timetable for their returns.
Next week, St. Cloud State will host NCHC-co leader Nebraska-Omaha, while Minnesota-Duluth will travel to Miami.
