HOUGHTON, Mich. — Fourth-ranked Michigan Tech had a week off and it showed against No. 9 Minnesota-Duluth, who took advantage of power plays to skate away with a 3-1 win at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena Friday night.
Dominic Toninato finished the night with a pair of goals for the Bulldogs, who became just the third team all season to score three goals against the Huskies.
“We knew it was going to be tough to score goals,” said Bulldogs’ coach Scott Sandelin. “Both teams have pretty good goalies.”
Both teams started the game well, with little separating the two teams until the Bulldogs earned the game’s first power play. They did not score on the advantage, but they stole the game’s momentum.
“Obviously, Duluth played a heck of a game,” said MTU coach Mel Pearson. “You can see why they are a top-10 team. I thought we were better in the second half of the game.”
Getting their second power play late in the opening frame, UMD capitalized.
Toninato picked up the puck off a carom off the back boards and beat Jamie Phillips with a shot at 18:46 of the period. Austin Farley and Andy Welinski picked up assists on the goal.
The Bulldogs (12-5-0 overall) finished the first period with a 20-6 advantage in shots after putting up 10 shots on the two power plays.
“We didn’t come out with enough jump in the beginning,” Michigan Tech assistant captain Cliff Watson. “They came out with a lot of jump off the bat and we did not match it right away.”
Michigan Tech (12-3-0 overall) skated much better in the second period, earning a pair of power plays of their own. However, their second advantage was cut short by a slashing call against co-captain Blake Pietila.
During the ensuing four-on-four, the Bulldogs struck a second time as Farley crashed the net and poked a rebound into the back of the net as Phillips was completely out of the crease after making the first stop. The goal, which came at 7:30, was assisted by Tony Cameronesi and Nick McCormack.
Phillips made a huge save, one of his 38 for the night, shortly after the second goal during a three-on-two break for the Bulldogs. He came up big again on a one-timer by Justin Crandell on a Bulldogs’ power play. Crandell had taken a pass from Jared Thomas on the play.
Pietila had a great chance to get within a goal right off the opening faceoff of the third period, but his shot off a pass from assistant captain Alex Petan sailed just over the net. Bulldogs’ goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo did not have to make one of his 25 saves on the play.
The Huskies got on the board in the third when Dylan Steman found some open ice to Kaskisuo’s right. Watson fired a shot from the left point that Steman tipped in the net at 6:16.
Michigan Tech then earned a power play less than a minute later, but that advantage lasted just seconds before they found themselves heading to the box.
The hosts had some chances on the four-on-four, but they could not buy a goal.
Toninato netted his second of the night at 11:18. After the Huskies nearly scored after crashing the net at one end of the ice, the Bulldogs pushed the puck up ice quickly, catching the Huskies off guard. Captain Adam Krause found Toninato behind the Huskies’ defense, and he beat Phillips with a quick move in close.
Pearson elected not to pull Phillips late in the contest when the Huskies had a faceoff in the offensive zone with just over two minutes to play. In fact, he kept his goaltender in the net for the remainder of the contest.
“I felt the way the game was going, we needed to get one first,” said Pearson. “We had enough sustained pressure, we just couldn’t seem to get one.”
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