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And the beat goes on.
The University of Minnesota Duluth took down the University of North Dakota for a program best seventh straight time Friday night in Duluth, getting goals from five different players and another superb puckstopping performance from sophomore netminder
Hunter Shepard in a 5-3 National Collegiate Hockey Conference victory. The No. 14 Bulldogs, who were making their first home appearance in seven weeks, also hiked their unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1) while improving to 12-9-3 overall and 6-7-0-0 in the NCHC.
No. 7 North Dakota (12-7-6; 6-5-2-2), which never held a lead, outshot the Bulldogs 17-8 in the third period and 36-26 on the night, but went just 1-for-8 on the power play.
"Our penalty kill and power play units (3-for-5) did a heck of a job tonight," said UMD head coach
Scott Sandelin. "We knew they were going to come on strong and make a push in the third period. We were on our heels and kind of bent a bit, but we got it done."
UMD sophomore right winger
Joey Anderson (on a missile from the low slot) and North Dakota's Trevor Olson traded first-period goals before UMD went up for good midway through second period when junior center
Peter Krieger (a one-timer off a pass from freshman defenseman
Scott Perunovich) and junior right winger
Parker Mackay (a redirect on the power play) scored three minutes apart. North Dakota pulled to within one goal twice in the third period, only to see the Bulldogs answer on goals from senior right winger
Karson Kuhlman and sophomore left winger
Riley Tufte (an an empty netter with 36 seconds to go in regulation). Mackay also added two assists for a career-high three-point evening.
Shepard, making his 19th consecutive start, finished with 36 saves while his Fighting Hawk counterpart, Cam Johnson, had 21 stops.
The Bulldogs blocked a 2017-18 single-game high 22 shots in the win (with sophomore defenseman
Nick Wolff's five leading the way) and attempted a 2017-18 single-season low 38 total shots.
The two teams will meet again Saturday night for a final time in the 2017-18 regular season.
