Some of  University of Notre Dame's best chances to salvage a weekend series split with the University of Minnesota Duluth were killed off --l iterally -- by the visiting Bulldogs Saturday.

The top-ranked Irish went 0-for-7 on the power play and wound up on the short end of a 3-1 decision to the No. 3 UMD at the Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend, Ind. That, coupled with Friday night's 3-2 triumph, gave the Bulldogs their third straight regular season sweep -- a feat they haven't been able to accomplish since 2011-12.

The rookie brother tandem of forwards Jackson and Noah Cates each scored once and assisted on another goal as the Bulldogs improved to 6-1-1 on the year and hiked their winning streak to six games.  Notre Dame, which has won just once in its last nine matchups with UMD (1-6-2), is 3-2-1 overall.

Sophomore left winger Kobe Roth staked UMD to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period when he corralled a turnover in front of the Irish net, and fired in a shot over the pad of goaltender Cale Morris. Noah Cates doubled the Bulldog advantage 2:17 into the second period off a wrister from the bottom of the right circle that deflected in off a Notre Dame defender. The Irish got on the board at the 4:43 mark of the third period, but Jackson Cates helped squash any Notre Dame comeback plans by roofing a power play shot over Morris  with 8:55 to go in regulation.

Junior goaltender Hunter Shepard finished with 27 saves (including 12 on the power play) for the Bulldogs while Morris made 20 stops.

UMD will have next weekend off before opening its sixth season of National Collegiate Hockey Conference play on Nov. 9-10 with a pair of home bouts against Colorado College.

"This is a great way to go into the bye week," said UMD Head Coach Scott Sandelin. "Obviously our guys fought through some adversity tonight and I give our penalty killers a ton of credit. Hunter Shepard was good and we scored some timely goals.

"It was a real good team effort tonight -- and all weekend."