DULUTH, Minn. – No. 5 Minnesota Duluth rode the strength of a five-goal second period to a 7-2 win over the Omaha hockey team on Friday at AMSOIL Arena.

The Mavericks fell to 7-14-2 overall and 3-9-1-0/1 in the NCHC, putting them in a tie with Colorado College for seventh place.  UMD improved to 15-6-2 overall and 8-4-1-0/0 in the conference, good for second.

The Bulldogs opened the scoring at 7:14 of the first period when Nick Swaney steered home rink-wide pass from Matt Anderson for his ninth goal of the season.

The Mavericks tied the game late in the period.  Ryan Jones flipped the puck out to center ice where it was scooped up by Mason Morelli.  He split two UMD defenseman and slipped a shot past goalie Hunter Shepard at 16:58.  It was his team-leading 14th goal of the season.

UMD came into the game outscoring opponents 31-13 in the second period, and the Bulldogs added to that advantage with five goals including two on the power play.  The Mavericks got a power play goal from Teemu Pulkkinen in the period, tallying against the nation's best penalty killing team.  Still, they trailed 6-2 at the second intermission.

The Bulldogs tacked on another power play goal in the third, scoring off a slap shot from Dylan Samberg that beat Matej Tomek who came in to relieve Evan Weninger.  Weninger started the game and made 37 saves on 43 shots during the first two periods.

UMD finished with a 56-17 shot advantage.  Swaney finished the game with a hat trick.

The two teams finish the season series on Saturday at 7:07 p.m.

GAME NOTES:

• Ryan Jones assisted on both UNO goals.
• Tomek made his first appearance since Dec. 1 against Colorado College.
• The Mavericks allowed a season high in shots while registering a season low in shots on goal.

Three Stars:  1. Nick Swaney/UMD – Hat trick; 2. Noah Cates/UMD – Two assists; 3. Dylan Samberg/UMD – One goal, one assist.