Goals were hard to come by for the University of Minnesota Duluth for 65 minutes of regulation and overtime -- and even harder to come by in the shootout.

After the No. 6 Bulldogs and the University of Nebraska Omaha failed to break a 1-1 overtime deadlock, the No. 8 Mavericks snatched the extra National Collegiate Hockey Conference point by prevailing 2-0 in the shootout Friday night at AMSOIL Arena. The two clubs played over 41 minutes of scoreless hockey before UMD sophomore defenseman Carson Soucy broke the ice at 1:32 of the third on a floater from the right point for his fifth goal of the season. It took Omaha (17-10-4 overall; 11-8-2-2 in the NCHC) just 81 seconds to answer when James Polk finished off a 2-on-1 with a shot that went off UMD goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo's right elbow and into the net.

Omaha scored on two of its three shootout attempts while the Bulldogs were blanked on both of theirs. Sophomore left winger Alex Iafallo, who tops UMD in scoring and is the only active Bulldog to collect a shootout goal (he's done it twice), missed his first game as a collegian while battling an illness. The Bulldogs went 0-for-6 on the power play (after connecting on six of their previous 12 opportunities with the man advantage) and were outshot 30-26.

"It was a hard-fought game and I thought both goalies played well," said Soucy, who is a +13 on the year. "Omaha made things tough for us tonight, but that's what good teams do."

UMD (19-2-2; 11-8-2-0), which has lost just twice in its last 11 games in Duluth (7-2-2), will make its final regular season home appearance of 2014-15 tomorrow night when it wraps up its two-game NCHC series with the Mavericks.