With a combined 28 minutes of penalties between them, the No. 8 University of Minnesota Duluth women's hockey team couldn't overcome the No. 4 University of Minnesota in a 3-1 setback Saturday afternoon at AMSOIL Arena.

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association showdown struggled to get a flow with 15 total power plays between the two sides – and while neither team was able to score with an extra skater, the Gophers struck twice on its penalty kill, the difference ultimately in the game.

The first period was a scoreless draw, despite the Bulldogs fighting off three penalties in the first 10 minutes of action. Minnesota opened the second period with its first goal at the 1:04 mark, and then doubled its lead with a shorthanded tally at 7:39.

UMD pushed back on its 2-0 deficit, and finally broke through early in the third period. Mannon McMahon's initial drive was broken up, but the graduate center tracked the puck down behind the net and nudged it to Clara Van Wieren. Van Wieren slid the puck in the slot to junior winger Gabby Krause, and Krause's third goal of the year beat Gopher netminder Lucy Morgan over her shoulder at 3:32 to pull the Bulldogs within one.

But like Friday night, UMD's effort to reign Minnesota on the scoreboard was short-lived, and less than a minute later, the Gophers buried their second shorthanded goal of the night to make it a 3-1 game.

That goal would keep the game out of reach for the Bulldogs, who were outshot by Minnesota 36-29 and were unsuccessful in seven power play attempts while holding the Gophers scoreless in five. Freshman goaltender Ève Gascon had 33 stops for UMD, while Morgan made 29 for the Gophers, who improved to 9-2-0 and 7-2-0 on the season.

"Obviously would have loved to have capitalized on some of our power play opportunities tonight and I think special teams really becomes the name of the game," said UMD head coach Maura Crowell.  "Our kill was really good tonight, 100%, so we sorted that out from last night. But our power play didn't didn't get a goal, and we gave up two, so that's really, you know, the story of the game there. We'll continue to talk about it, and I think this weekend was a really good test for us."

The Bulldogs (8-4-0, 6-6-0)  will face another non-conference test when they host No. 3 Colgate University next weekend at AMSOIL. The series will get underway on Black Friday at 6:00 p.m and conclude Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. matinee.