No. 6/7 North Dakota vaults into first place with 5-3 win over No. 13 SCSU

ST. CLOUD, Minn. (UND Athletics)– Senior goaltender Ludvig Persson stopped 34 shots to help No. 6/7 North Dakota defeat No. 13 St. Cloud State, 5-3, on Friday night from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.

The goaltender was stellar in his return to the net, stopping a season-best 34-of-37 fired his way to help the Fighting Hawks (16-6-1, 7-4-0 NCHC) vault into first place in the conference standings with 25 points and give the visitors only their second win in the last nine games in St. Cloud.

Sophomore forward Jackson Blake exploded for a pair of goals and an assist for his sixth game of the season with three points while extending his point streak to five straight. Forwards Cameron Berg (1G, 1A) and Owen McLaughlin (2A) also notched multi-point outings while defenseman Jake Livanavage dished out a pair of helpers for his second-career game with two assists.

North Dakota once again got out to the start it wanted, taking the 1-0 lead just under seven minutes into the contest when McLaughlin feathered a perfect pass to a cutting Blake and the sophomore roofed it over the goaltender for his team-leading 13th of the season and a 1-0 advantage.

The green and white kept its strong opening 20 minutes of play rolling throughout the stanza before finally extending the lead to 2-0 in the dying moments. McLaughlin and Blake combined again on a faceoff win, working the puck back to defenseman Garrett Pyke to wire home his third goal of the season to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage after one.

After SCSU (11-7-3, 7-2-2 NCHC) cut the lead to 2-1 just 24 seconds into the second period, Blake restored the two-goal advantage with a power play snipe for his second tally of the night and third multi-goal game of the season to send UND to the locker room with a 3-1 lead.

Persson sparkled in the middle stanza, finishing with 14 saves on 15 shots, including a dazzling glove stop on a 2-on-1 rush late in the second period to keep the advantage at a pair of goals heading into the third.

The Huskies again struck early in the period, cutting the lead to 3-2 on a Zach Okabe rebound, but the UND power play responded again when Berg finished off sweet dish from Jackson Kunz on the zone entry to give the junior his 11th tally of the season and a 4-2 advantage near the midway point of the third.

SCSU climbed within a goal for the third time in the game with a power play strike of its own, but Louis Jamernik V sealed the 5-3 victory for the Hawks with an empty netter for his sixth goal of the campaign.

North Dakota will go for the series and season sweep over St. Cloud State on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. from the HBNHC. Fans can catch the contest on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Home of Economy Radio Network.

Postgame Notes 

• Ludvig Persson finished with a season-high 34 saves to improve to 13-6-1 this season
• Jackson Blake tallied his sixth three-point game of the season with two goals and an assist
• The pair of goals are the third multi-goal outing of the year for Blake
• Owen McLaughlin extended his point streak to five straight games with two helpers
• Cameron Berg has points in 12 of his last 15 games, including 10 goals
• Berg also set a new single-season high with 11 goals on the season
• UND finished 2-for-3 on the power play, improving to 4-1-0 when scoring multiple PPG
• The Hawks have 12 power play goals in the last 10 games, including seven in the last five games
• UND improves to 6-3-0 against ranked opponents this season
• NoDak is also 13-0-0 this season when leading after two periods and 14-4-1 when scoring first
• Jake Livanavage recorded his second multi-point game of his career, notching two assists
• Logan Britt tallied his first point since Nov. 25 vs. Bemidji State
• Blake, Berg and Persson were named the game’s three stars, in that order
• SCSU finished with a 27-24 faceoff advantage, with Louis Jamernik V pacing UND at 7-5

How It Happened 

First Period                                                     
06:59 | UND – Jackson Blake roofs one over Dominic Basse to give UND a 1-0 lead
19:54 | UND – Garrett Pyke blasts home his third of the season to extend the advantage to 2-0

Second Period 
00:24 | SCSU – Mason Salquist gets the Huskies on the board early in the second
13:58 | UND – Blake scores his second of the night with a snipe on the power play to make it 3-1 UND

Third Period 
04:22 | SCSU – Zach Okabe pounces on the rebound to trim the deficit to 3-2 early in the third
08:46 | UND – Cameron Berg rockets home a slick feed from Jackson Kunz on the power play
16:29 | SCSU – Veeti Miettinen scores a power play goal to cut the lead to 4-3
18:28 | UND – Louis Jamernik V seals the 5-3 victory with an empty netter

Game Recap: Men’s Hockey | 1/19/2024 11:09:00 PM | Alec Stocker Johnson, FightingHawks.com