The University of Minnesota Duluth entered Friday's National Collegiate Hockey Conference series opener at Colorado College as the nation's third-stingiest team, having allowed a mere 2.0 goals per game. Thanks to a determined effort with only five defensemen available throughout much of the night, the Bulldogs improved on those goal-prevention numbers and earned a tight-checking 2-1 victory over the Tigers.
 
With the win, top-ranked UMD (19-5-5 overall; 13-4-2-2 NCHC) kept pace with the University of Denver, which held its one-point grip on the NCHC top spot with a 5-2 win at Miami University.
 
Special teams made the difference for UMD, first with a critical third-period major penalty kill, then with sophomore Adam Johnson netting the game-winning goal on the power play with 4:44 remaining in regulation.
 
"It was a good win," said UMD head coach Scott Sandelin. "I thought we played a good game, coming back after the week off. We had nice first period, a little bit of a slow start in the second, but in the third, the penalty killers did a great job on the five-minute major and the power play came through when we needed it."
 
Johnson's goal, his career-high 12th of the season, capped a decisive final period for the Bulldogs, who skated without senior defenseman Brenden Kotyk almost the entire game due to an injury. His loss was especially acute with Karson Kuhlman serving a major penalty for boarding early in the third, but the Bulldogs rotated four of their remaining defensemen and extinguished the lengthy Tigers power play.
 
"We didn't really change anything," said Sandelin, whose Bulldogs are now 11-1-2 away from Duluth this season.  "The guys just did a great job and we used a lot of penalty killers."

Foremost among them was senior left winger Kyle Osterberg, who hounded the puck and killed precious seconds whenever he had an opportunity.
 
"Obviously a five-minute major is a long kill, so the 'D' are taking quicker shifts and we're making sure we sacrifice the body and get in lanes," said Osterberg. "As forwards, our mentality was to go with the puck if there was space, but not get caught too far up ice, knowing that it's tough to play a long kill with (only) four 'D'."
 
The recipe worked for UMD, which extended its unbeaten streak to eight games, the third longest run in the nation at the moment. The Bulldogs also extended their streak of scoring the game's first goal – now at three games – thanks to Blake Young, who rejoined the lineup Feb. 4 against the University of Nebraska-Omaha and earned Sandelin's praise for another strong performance after being inactive since mid-December.
 
A 6-foot-3 junior wing, Young flung a wrist shot from outside the left circle that squeezed past Colorado College goaltender Alex Leclerc on the short side to put the Bulldogs ahead 1-0 at 10:55 of the first period. The Tigers answered three minutes later, on the power play, when Bryce Van Horn shoveled a loose puck past Hunter Miska during a net-front scramble to even the score.
 
The teams then skated through a scoreless second period notable only for a brilliant right-leg save from Miska that robbed Cole McCaskill and denied a Tigers 2-on-1 early in the period.
 
That set the stage for an eventful third period that kept the Bulldogs in the NCHC title hunt. They'll continue that pursuit tomorrow with the series finale against Colorado College (7-20-2; 3-14-2-0) at 8:07 p.m. (CT).

NOTES: Alex Iafallo was credited with the primary assist on Johnson's goal which gave the senior left winger an even 100 points for his career. He became the 57th Bulldog to reach that mark ... The Bulldogs are now 13-1-0 in their last 14 games on an Olympic-sized ice sheet ... Blake Young's goal was his second of the season and his career ... Junior center Jared Thomas snapped a 14-game pointless skid with a first-period assist ... Rookie Hunter Miska, in his 21st consecutive start, finished with 20 saves while Leclerc made 27 stops ... Sophomore right winger Parker Mackay was back in the Bulldog lineup after missing the last six games with an injured hand.