Box Score Battling for a home berth in next weekend's National Collegiate Hockey Conference playoffs, the University of Minnesota Duluth experienced its largest scoring output in over four years Friday night at AMSOIL Arena and cruised to an 8-2 victory over the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Sophomore center Tony Cameranesi and junior right winger Justin Crandall each scored twice for the No. 19 Bulldogs, who gained sole possession of the fourth place -- the final playoff spot -- while improving to 16-13-4 overall and 11-10-2-2. Crandall and freshman left winger Kyle Osterberg (one goal and two assists) both turned in three point nights while helping UMD push its winning streak over UNO to five games.

"It all stems from hard work," said Cameranesi, who gave UMD a 2-0 with two goals in the opening 9:50 of play. "From start to finish we were getting pucks in deep, controlling the puck, and putting shots on net."

The Bulldogs came out on firing and outshot the Mavericks 18-5 in the first period, yet clung to a slim 2-1 lead at the break. Junior Caleb Herbert banged in a rebound 54 seconds intothe second period for the eventual game-winner and, nine minutes later, rookie center Dominic Toninato made it 4-2 with the first-ever shorthanded goal by a Bulldog in the 62-game existence of AMSOIL Arena. Crandall (two), Osterberg and sophomore left winger Cal Decowkski added third-period goals to give UMD its highest single-game scoring harvest since an 8-1 home win over Michigan Tech University on Nov. 14, 2009.  The Bulldogs also got 22 saves from senior goaltender Aaron Crandall, who is now 4-0-0 in four lifetime starts against UNO with a 1.44 goals against average and a .967 saves percentage.

The two clubs will meet again Saturday night in the 2013-14 regular season finales. A victory by the Bulldogs would vault them past UNO into third place in the NCHC standings.