GRAND FORKS, N.D. - When North Dakota tied Friday night’s game, Minnesota Duluth responded just over two minutes later with two goals of its own to beat the No. 1 team in the nation.
On Saturday, the No. 7-ranked Bulldogs’ response to a game-tying goal by North Dakota was to surrender three second-periods goals, resulting in a 5-2 loss in NCHC play at Ralph Engelstad Arena.
The second-period implosion - which featured two Bulldogs penalties and three North Dakota goals in a span of nine minutes - cost the Bulldogs their first sweep of North Dakota since 1995, a second sweep of a No. 1 team this season and first place in the NCHC following Nebraska-Omaha’s sweep of Denver. The Bulldogs are two points behind the Mavericks in second.
“I thought we were a half-step slower,” Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin said. “I thought they were the better team. The amazing thing is I thought we still had a chance to win that game and get back in that game throughout the whole game, even though I didn’t think we were playing great.”
North Dakota scored its second and third goals of the night at the expense of sophomore defenseman Carson Soucy while the fourth bounced in off freshman wing Karson Kuhlman.
Senior center Mark MacMillan scored the go-ahead goal for North Dakota at 6:11 of the second period - or four seconds after a high-sticking minor on Bulldogs senior defenseman Derik Johnson expired - by initially beating Soucy, followed by a top-shelf snipe past freshman goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo.
Just over four minutes later, Minnesota Duluth sophomore Willie Raskob turned the puck over in his own zone and Soucy - who tried to bail his teammate out - misplayed the puck, allowing North Dakota senior wing Brendan O’Donnell to score his second goal of the night.
North Dakota junior center Drake Caggiula was credited with the fourth goal that went off Kuhlman as a penalty to defenseman Andy Welinski expired. Welinski was called for holding less than 30 seconds after North Dakota went up 3-1.
“I feel like some guys were maybe shocked that they came hard. I don’t know why,” Bulldogs senior captain Adam Krause said. “It was disappointing, obviously, but we had a good weekend. We split on the road at a tough place to play against a good team. We’re still at the top right now and you can’t complain too much. We can’t have a Saturday night like that.”
Raskob, who assisted on the game-winning goal Friday, gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead 7:10 into the game after rushing the net and poking a loose puck past the goal line. O’Donnell tied the game at 1-1 at the 13:25 mark of the first.
The Bulldogs picked up a power-play goal by senior wing Justin Crandall early in the third period to cut the margin in half to two goals, but O’Donnell put North Dakota back up by three with his third goal of the night at the 9:16 mark of the third. The final piece of O’Donnell’s hat trick resulted from Raskob and Soucy misplaying the puck behind the Bulldogs net.
“I didn’t think our defensemen were good as a group tonight,” Sandelin said. “I thought last night they did a good job and tonight I didn’t think we moved the puck up very well. We were slow and deliberate. They put pressure on and we didn’t handle the pressure very well.”
The rest of the third period was a standing-room only party in the penalty boxes with 11 players - six for North Dakota and five for Minnesota Duluth - in the boxes at one time late in the third. A total of 18 penalties for 52 minutes were assessed to North Dakota and Minnesota Duluth starting at the 10:31 mark in the third when the Bulldogs’ Johnson and North Dakota captain Stephane Pattyn got together. Pattyn appeared to punch Johnson, but the officials later called the Bulldogs’ defenseman for embellishment. Pattyn was called for roughing and both players received minors for unsportsmanlike conduct plus 10-minute misconducts.
Of the 18 penalties assessed in the second half of the third, 10 for 28 minutes went to North Dakota.
“They came at us hard. We have to expect that in a big game for them. They don’t want to get swept at home,” said UMD senior alternate captain Justin Crandall, who was called for roughing late in the third. “They came out with a lot of fire and we got caught flat footed some times and taking some penalties we shouldn’t have taken.
“I thought we had a good push back in the third period there and made it a better game, then it got a little out of hand.”
Minn. Duluth........... 1-0-1-2 North Dakota.......... 1-3-1-5 First period - 1. UMD, Willie Raskob 2 (Austin Farley, Tony Cameranesi), 7:10; 2. ND, Brendan O’Donnell 6 (Keaton Thompson, Jordan Schmaltz), 13:25. Penalties - Andy Welinski, UMD (interference), 0:39; Luke Johnson, UND (tripping), 14:55.
Second period - 3. ND, Mark MacMillan 9 (Paul LaDue, Zane McIntyre), 6:11; 4. ND, O’Donnell 7 (Connor Gaarder), 10:19: 5. ND, Drake Caagiula 9 (Nick Schmaltz, Jordan Schmaltz), 12:47. Penalties - Derik Johnson, UMD (high sticking), 4:07; Andy Welinski, UMD (holding), 10:46; Gage Ausmus, ND (roughing), 16:12.
Third period - 6. UMD, Justin Crandall 5 (Willie Raskob, Jared Thomas), 4:04 (pp); 7. ND, O’Donnell 8 (Luke Johnson), 9:16. Penalties - Andrew Panzarella, ND (high sticking), 2:27; Derik Johnson, UMD (embellishment),10:31; Derik Johnson, UMD (unsportsmanlike conduct and 10-minute misconduct), 10:31; Stephane Pattyn, ND (roughing), 10:31; Stephane Pattyn, ND (unsportsmanlike conduct and 10-minute misconduct), 10:31; Austin Farley, UMD (cross-checking), 12:33; Luke Johnson, ND (Holding), 12:33; Carson Soucy, UMD (roughing), 13:08; Jordan Schmaltz, ND (roughing), 13:08; Justin Crandall, UMD (roughing), 13:08; Connor Gaarder, ND (roughing), 13:08; Zane McIntyre, ND (slashing), 13:08; Michael Parks, ND (hooking), 14:49; Austin Farley, UMD (slashing), 14:49; Gage Ausmus, ND (slashing), 14:49; Connor Gaarder, ND (slashing), 17:32; Austyn Young, UMD (tripping), 17:32.
Shots on goal - UMD 11-15-17-43; ND 14-11-8-33. Goalies - Kasimir Kaskisuo (33 shots-28 saves); Zane McIntyre, ND (43-41). Power plays - UMD 1-of-5; ND 0-of-3. Referees - Derek Shepherd, Todd Anderson. Linesmen - Mike Eslinger, Brandon Schmitt. A - 11,777.
