Noah Cates scored his 35th career goal on Saturday night as the No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs dropped a 5-1 decision to the No. 16 Omaha Mavericks in Nebraska. With their 5-1 victory on Friday night, the Bulldogs and Mavericks split the two-game series in Omaha.
Cates found the back of the net with a power-play goal midway through the third period.
Quinn Olson and
Casey Gilling each picked up assists on the Cates marker.
Ryan Fanti got the start in net for UMD and made 20 saves on 24 Omaha shots. On the night, the Bulldogs outshot the Mavericks 28-25.
It was Omaha who came out firing in the first period on Saturday. Following a good offensive zone shift by the Bulldogs, UNO's Tyler Weiss would bury his own rebound off a breakaway opportunity to give the Mavericks the 1-0 advantage. UMD would get a power-play chance just a minute later but couldn't convert. With just under three minutes to play in the period,
Darian Gotz was called for hooking, giving the Mavericks a man-advantage opportunity. While on the power-play, Matt Miller slapped home a rebound on the side of the net to double UNO's lead. Omaha took the 2-0 lead and an 8-7 shot advantage into the second period of play.
The Bulldogs would outshoot Omaha 9-6 in the middle frame, but timely saves from UNO goaltender Isaiah Saville would shut down UMD's attack. Eight minutes into the second period, Brandon Scanlin beat Fanti to extend Omaha's lead to 3-0. After a holding the stick call to
Connor Kelley, Omaha's Taylor Ward buried a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle to put the Mavericks ahead 4-0 after 40 two periods of play. Shots on goal were 16-14 in favor of the Bulldogs heading into the third period.
UMD came out in the third period and threw everything at Saville. Just past five minutes gone in the period,
Kyler Kleven made a quick move towards the UNO net and got a great scoring chance off but was denied by Saville with the right pad. A few moments later, a five-minute major penalty for boarding was assessed to Omaha's Kevin Conley, giving UMD a long power-play opportunity. While on the man-advantage, Cates was positioned in the right-wing faceoff circle and cashed-in off a Gilling rebound shot to get UMD on the board. The power-play goal came at 10:56 of the third and cut Omaha's lead to 4-1. Following the goal, Saville would make a big backdoor save off
Kobe Roth to help UNO kill-off the rest of the major penalty to Conley. UMD pulled Fanti with 4:50 remaining on the clock, but an empty-net goal for UNO's Chayse Primeau would seal the victory for Omaha.
Up Next
The Bulldogs will return home next weekend for a two-game series with the Western Michigan Broncos. Puck drop on both Friday and Saturday is set for 7:07 PM from Amsoil Arena in Duluth, Minn.
