Bulldogs overcome early 2-0 deficit to secure weekend sweep over UND

Written by Austin Rush | Archived Nov. 10, 2020

UMD celebrating one of their five goals. Photo courtesy of Alex Ganeev

For the eighth consecutive game, the University of Minnesota Duluth takes care of the University of North Dakota 5-2 to secure the weekend sweep over their National Collegiate Hockey Conference rival.

The Bulldogs overcame an early 2-0 deficit in route to securing all six NCHC points tonight. Senior forward Jared Thomas got the Bulldogs on the board knocking in a rebound off a Joey Anderson shot from the top of the right circle.

Early in the second period the Bulldogs were awarded a 5-on-3 power play which freshman defenseman Scotty Perunovich made sure UMD capitalized on. The Hibbing native rifled home a wrist shot from the slot to equalize things at 2 apiece. 16 seconds later Perunovich gave the Bulldogs the lead scoring on the power play once again to hand the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead. Keeping the trend of scoring on the power play going, junior forward Parker Mackay knocked in a rebound at 9:04 of the third period to make it 4-2. The Bulldog power play went 3-5 tonight and 6-11 on the weekend.

Sophomore forward Riley Tufte put the nail in the coffin with his empty net goal with 11 seconds left in regulation. Two goals for the Blaine native this weekend both coming at the expense of an empty UND goal. Captain America Joey Anderson had a hand in four Bulldog goals tonight as the sophomore forward had four assists when the night was all said and done.

After the first period, UMD made the necessary adjustments and locked the Fighting Hawks down. UMD allowed just 12 shots on net in the final 40 minutes of play to remain unbeaten in their last 8 games.

"This was a good challenge for our team," said UMD senior captain Karson Kuhlman. "We got after them. We put the right systems in place and the guys came up big when they need to. They did all the little things tonight like blocking shots and getting ticks in lanes."

The Bulldogs hit the road Tuesday to wrap up the extended home-and-home series with Minnesota State that opened up November 25.