GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND ATHLETICS)– No. 5 North Dakota put together one of its best games of the year, dominating fourth-ranked Denver by a 5-2 score in the series opener on Friday night from a sold-out Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.

With the win, UND (17-6-2, 8-4-1 NCHC) stands alone atop of the league standings with 29 points and clinch the season series win over Denver (17-6-2, 8-4-1 NCHC) heading into Saturday’s finale.

Jackson Blake put his stamp on the contest in the second period, notching a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to seven and give him 10 points in that span. Cameron Berg also tallied a multi-point contest, striking for an empty net tally and an assist on Blake’s power play strike to make it four straight tilts with a goal for the junior.

Dylan James (5), Griffin Ness (3) and Ben Strinden (5) each potted goals while goaltender Ludvig Persson finished with 17 saves on 19 shots against to notch his third-career win over Denver and hold the Pioneers to their lowest goal total all season.

After a scoreless first period that saw play dominated by the hosts, UND finally broke the scoreless seal just over five minutes into the middle frame when James pounced on a loose rebound in the crease following a Blake rush to give the green and white a 1-0 lead.

Ness stretched the advantage to 2-0, rifling a shot into the top corner off the rush for his third goal of the season and second over the last three games with just over eight minutes to play in the stanza.

Denver cut the lead to one, but NoDak answered right before the end of the second period on the power play with Blake striking just 17 seconds into the man advantage for his team-leading 16th of the season to take a 3-1 lead into the locker room after 40 minutes.

The visitors trimmed the deficit to 3-2 with under six minutes to play, but Berg and Strinden hit the empty net in the final 60 seconds to secure the 5-2 victory.

North Dakota goes for the series sweep tomorrow night at 6:07 p.m. from the Ralph. Fans can catch all the action on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Home of Economy Radio Network.

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Postgame Notes 

• UND sits alone in first place in the NCHC standings with 29 points
• NoDak improves to 158-135-16 all-time against Denver and 93-46-10 at home
• The Hawks have won two of the last three meetings between the two sides after dropping four straight
• Cameron Berg has 10 points in nine career games against Denver
• Berg also has six goals and two assists in his last seven games
• The junior has also scored in four straight games
• Jackson Blake has 11 points in seven career games against Denver
• Blake extended his point streak to seven games and has scored in three straight
• UND has gone 18 straight games without a loss in regulation
• Ludvig Persson finished with 17 saves on 19 shots
• The Hawks are 12-1-0 this season when scoring at least four goals
• UND is 14-0-0 this season when leading after two
• NoDak is 12-for-36 in league action on the power play after a 1-for-2 game
• Blake, James and Ness were named the game’s three stars, in that order
• UND finished with a 28-17 faceoff advantage, with Louis Jamernik V going 8-2

How It Happened 

First Period                                                     
No scoring

Second Period 
05:12 | UND – Dylan James pounces on a rebound to make it 1-0 UND
11:41 | UND – Griffin Ness snipes a shot off the rush to extend the lead to 2-0
13:18 | DU – Zeev Buium banks a puck off a UND defender and in to cut the lead to 2-1
17:10 | UND – Jackson Blake snaps one home on the power play to make it 3-1 NoDak

Third Period 
14:42 | DU – Aidan Thompson cuts the lead to 3-2 late in the third period
19:05 | UND – Cameron Berg hits the empty net to give UND a 4-2 advantage
19:32 | UND – Ben Strinden seals the victory with the second empty netter