A first-ever four-game regular season series sweep of St. Cloud State University is what the University of Minnesota Duluth had its collective sights set on Saturday night.

The Huskies, however, wanted no part of that.

After three straight defeats to their intrastate rivals this season, St. Cloud State bounced back with a 4-1 victory -- just the No. 6 Bulldogs' second loss their last 10 home games (7-2-1). UMD, which fell to 18-11-1 overall and 10-7-1-0 in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, trailed 2-0 early in the third period before cutting the St. Cloud State University lead in half with a power play goal from Austin Farley. The junior left winger pounded in his own rebound at the 7:17 mark for his 8th goal of the year with rookie center Jared Thomas (who now owns a four-game scoring streak) and senior right winger Justin Crandall picking up the assists. St. Cloud State (13-14-1; 8-9-1-0) answered five minutes later while a man up and then tacked on an empty net goal with 2:54 to go.

For only the fifth time in 30 games this season, UMD failed to outshot its opponent as St. Cloud State held a 28-22 advantage (21-11 through two periods). Rookie goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo (15-9-1) finished with 24 saves for the Bulldogs, who went 1-for-2 on the power play in its last leg of a four-game homestand

"In the first eight minutes we had some energy and after that I didn't think we had much of anything," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. "As far as overall performance, it was one of our worst games of the year."

The Bulldogs will be in Oxford, Ohio, next Friday and Saturday for a pair of NCHC showdowns with Miami University.