Despite outshooting the No. 3 Western Michigan Broncos 30-19, the No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs dropped a 3-2 overtime decision on Saturday night in Duluth. With their win on Friday evening, the Bulldogs earn both a series and season split with the Broncos and move to 14-10-2 overall on the year. On the weekend, the Bulldogs took four of six points for WMU on the weekend.
Noah Cates and
Connor Kelley tallied a goal each on the night, while
Kobe Roth posted two assists. For Kelley, the goal is his first of the season and fourth of his UMD career. Additionally,
Wyatt Kaiser and
Casey Gilling found themselves on the scoresheet with an assist each. Junior goaltender
Ryan Fanti made 16 saves on the night and moves to 13-7-2 overall on the season.
"I thought our special teams were okay tonight," said Head Coach
Scott Sandelin. "I thought we played very well, I thought it was a good game for us 5-on-5. They got a timely goal on the power-play and it was a difference maker."
Like Friday night's contest, UMD came out and outshot the Broncos 8-6 through the first 20 minutes of play. Each team would get a power-play opportunity in the opening ten minutes, but neither side would find the back of the net. Just past the midway portion of the period, Roth was working deep in the Bulldogs offensive zone when he spotted Gilling in the slot. Gilling one-timed the pass from Roth, forcing Brandon Bussi to make a quick save. The rebound bounced to Cates who buried it on the backdoor. Cates's eighth goal of the season came at 14:44 of the first period and gave UMD the 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Cates now sits with 94 career points, just six shy of 100.
A wild second period began with a successful UMD penalty-kill in the opening minutes. Following the Broncos power-play, UMD would get their own opportunity with the man-advantage. However, UMD would give up a shorthanded goal to WMU's Josh Passolt. Western would kill-off the remainder of the penalty and the game was locked at 1-1 midway through the frame. A few minutes later, UMD was awarded another power-play opportunity. With the man-advantage, Biondi scored what he thought was the tie-breaking goal but would be called back due to goaltender interference. WMU turned in another successful kill. With just four minutes left in the period and the Bulldogs back on the power-play, Roth would find Kelley at the top of the zone. Kelley would wire a shot high-blocker side past Bussi to give the Bulldogs the 2-1 advantage heading to the third period of play. Shots were 22-13 in favor of the Bulldogs through 40 minutes.
Despite the one-goal deficit, WMU came out in the third and used a Ronnie Attard power-play goal to tie the game at 2-2. The goal came just 58 seconds into the third period and set the teams up for a battle down the stretch. UMD would get two power-play opportunities in the final frame but couldn't find the back of the net. The teams would head to overtime with UMD outshooting the Broncos 8-5 in the third period. In overtime, the Bulldogs failed to register a shot, despite some zone-time in the Broncos end. 1:51 into the extra frame, Passolt notched his second goal of the night with a wrist shot low blocker side on Fanti.
Up Next
The Bulldogs will enjoy a bye-week next weekend and will be back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 8 in St. Cloud, Minn.
