The University of Minnesota Duluth longest unbeaten streak of the 2019-20 season is no more. 

St. Cloud State University saw to it Friday night as the Huskies withstood a third-period onslaught by the No. 8 Bulldogs and held on for a 2-1 victory at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center. No. 8 UMD, which outshot the Huskies 18-4 in the final 20 minutes of regulation, came into the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series opener having gone 5-0-1 since suffering its last loss on Nov. 30.

The two clubs traded first-period goals with junior left winger Kobe Roth striking for the Bulldogs on the power play a little over three minutes after the Huskies had taken a 1-0 lead. Roth tapped in a rebound off a shot from sophomore left winger Noah Cates at the 15:13 mark for his career-high ninth goal of the season. St. Cloud State regained the lead 4:11 into second period and road the lockdown goaltending of David Hrenak the rest of the way. Hrenak finished with 32 saves, 25 of which came in the last two periods of play, while senior All-American Hunter Shepard had 20 stops for the Bulldogs( 12-7-2 overall; 7-2-2 in the NCHC).

UMD, which entered the weekend sporting the nation's fourth-most efficient power play, went 1-for-5 with the man advantage. This marked the first time in 19 games (going back to Feb. 23, 2019) that the Bulldogs failed to win when giving up two goals or less.

"We didn't work hard enough until the third period," said UMD Head Coach Scott Sandelin. "St. Cloud worked hard, they played hard and they got a couple got a couple bounces."

The two teams will meet again Saturday in a 4 p.m. Saturday matinee in St. Cloud, Minn.