In the opening game of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference first round showdown between the No. 10 University of Minnesota Duluth men's hockey team and St. Cloud State University, the Bulldogs never led for a second in regulation. But when Zam Plante scored the game-winner three and a half minutes into overtime Friday night at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn., UMD owned the only lead that actually mattered.

The Bulldogs rallied twice in the third period to force overtime and grab the 4-3 win against the Huskies to take game one of the best-of-three league postseason series.

Plante, who has now scored two late game-tying goals over his past two games and netted four goals in his last two outings, scored the game-tying goal with 23 seconds left in regulation to pull UMD even. But it was the Bulldog defense that not only blocked 15 shots in the game and held SCSU scoreless in three power play attempts, UMD defenseman stepped up offensively.  Three blueliners logged points – including Ty Hanson's assist on the game-tying tally, Adam Kleber's goal and Grayden Siepmann's primary on the opening goal that helped make the difference down the stretch for the Bulldogs – all while missing team captain Joey Pierce, who missed the game due to illness.

"Joey's a huge part of our team and what we have here both on and off the ice, and we missed him tonight," said alternate captain and sophomore defenseman Ty Hanson. "We've talked a lot recently about moving the puck up top and making it hard on the wingers and getting into the lanes and blocking it, so it's a lot of putting into games what we practice. It's a lot of fun knowing you can get out there with whoever and they're going to keep the play alive and keep it in the offensive zone and make a good play with the puck."

The Bulldogs fast finish was nothing like its start, however, and they outshot (9-6) and outscored in the first period after Austin Burnevik unloaded a nasty wrist shot for the 1-0 lead 6:33 into the frame. 

The Huskies doubled up 2-0 on UMD with a dribbler that snuck past Bulldog goaltender Adam Gajan 12:04 of the second, but the Bulldogs finally got on the board just under four minutes later when Kyle Gaffney got on the end of a center from Siepmann to cut the lead in half. Gaffney's third goal of the season was also his fifth point in five games – he had four assists over his last four games entering Friday's skate.

UMD had twice the advantage on the Huskies on the shot chart in the second period, putting 14 pucks on frame to the seven from SCSU, and with 7:41, it looked like the Bulldogs had finally drawn even when Aaron Pionk scored. But the goal was immediately ruled no goal on the ice after Siepmann had collided with SCSU goaltender Yan Shostak.

Just seconds later, Kleber did pull the Bulldogs even, one-timing back on net a bouncing puck to the point to make it a 2-2 contest at 12:45 of the third. 

But the Huskies weren't done, and 1:49 later, Nolan Roed pushed SCSU back in front 3-2, testing UMD's ability to comeback just one more time on the night.

With a 6-on-5 skater advantage on an empty net and 23 seconds left in regulation, the Bulldogs did just that when Plante tipped Hanson's shot inside the near post and through to level the score at 3-3 and ensure UMD would get another chance to move ahead of the Huskies for good in extra time. 

The Bulldogs, who settled for a 2-2 tie against Colorado College six days ago needed just 3:30 of overtime to take their first – and final – lead of the game. Plante was knotted up at the faceoff dot and managed to spin and shoot the puck past Shostak for the game-winner, sealing the win in the best-of-three conference postseason series.

"Talk a lot about if you can't win it clean, just try to keep it around there and luckily I was able to get a stick on it," said Plante. " We talked after the third that any shot is a good shot in overtime. I tried to get it on net and it found a way in."

"It was great, I mean, we talked about it, you, don't pass up on shots, right?" said Sandelin. "And we did a good job staying with the draw and found the puck, and again, that's what happens. Sometimes you put pucks on net, we got a fortunate bounce off him and it went over the line just enough to end the game. So, again, that's kind of how those goals and games end, they're not always pretty plays. ?Sometimes they are, but usually they're kind of ugly goals and that would probably be termed an  ugly good goal.  But you put the puck on the net and I liked how he stayed with it, and I'm glad it ended quickly."

The Bulldogs ended the game 1-of-5 on their NCAA-best power play and outshot the Huskies 39-24. Gajan had 21 stops for UMD, while Shostak had 34 for SCSU, who falls to 16-18-1 on the season.

UMD (21-13-1) will look to close out the series tomorrow night at AMSOIL. The puck is scheduled to drop at 6:07 p.m.

BULLDOG NOTES: Zam Plante has four goals for UMD in his last two games and now has 18 on the season … that marked Plante's fifth two-goal games this season and 14 multiple point skate … Kyle Gaffney also added an assist to his goal Friday night, and now owns six points (1g, 5a) over his last five games … Grayden Siepmann's assist was his fifth in five games … UMD is 13-10 all-time in NCHC quarterfinal contests and moves to 4-1-0 against the Huskies this season … the Bulldogs will look to advance out of the quarterfinals for the first time since the 2021-22 season Saturday night.