Austin Roden entered Friday's series opener at Baxter Arena unbeaten in two career starts against St. Cloud State. Back in November, he recorded 43 saves to beat the Huskies when the were ranked No. 1 in the country.

Still, Omaha coach Mike Gabinet said it was just "a gut feeling" that led him to turn to Roden, instead of his usual starter Isaiah Saville, in the rematch. The junior netminder came through with another big night.

Roden tallied 31 saves as the Mavericks (18-13) used a four-goal third period to topple No. 8 St. Cloud State (15-10-3) 5-2. The victory was Omaha's first in a series opener since early December, and it gave the Mavericks an 18th win – their most in Gabinet's five years as the head coach at his alma mater.

"[We] wanted to switch it up and give him an opportunity," Gabinet said. "We've got two good goalies to choose from and [I] just kind of had a gut feeling that Austin would have a good game tonight."

Roden blanked the Huskies through the first two periods as Omaha took a 1-0 lead to the second intermission. Matt Miller's power-play goal with 5:24 left in the second accounted for all the scoring.

The game then got wild in the third period as the teams traded goals for a span of six minutes.

Kevin Fitzgerald put back a rebound to tie it for SCSU 5:52 into the third. Brandon Scanlin answered for Omaha with a power-play blast just 51 seconds later. Shortly after, Ondrej Trejbal pulled the Huskies even again only to have Jimmy Glynn respond for the Mavericks two minutes later with a game-winner.

Ty Mueller tipped in a Scanlin shot to give Roden breathing room down the stretch. Brock Bremer added an empty-net goal in the final minute to cap the victory – Omaha's fifth over a ranked team this season.

"It was kind of roller coaster," Scanlin said. "They got one; we got one. They got one; we got one. We just kept our composure. We just kept playing hockey. They're going to score. It's going to happen. I just like the way we responded."

The Mavericks converted on both of their power-play opportunities and ran their nation-leading total of goals with an advantage to 40. Scanlin had a three-point night, and Jack Randl finished with two assists.

The Friday victory put Omaha in position to potentially sweep a series for the first time since November.

"I thought we've been playing some good hockey, just not seeing the results all the time," Gabinet said. "It takes a lot of accountability to just stick with things and to be sure you continue showing up and giving everything you've got. Again, it was nice to see our guys get rewarded tonight."

Omaha's victory came in its first home game since Jan. 22 and just its second home series opener since early December. The Mavericks wrap up the regular season with six straight games against Top 10 foes.

"Tonight's great, and it's a good win," Roden said. "But it's just one part of a puzzle we're going to have to build on. We're going to have to keep winning games to keep our goals alive – what we want to do. This is just a stepping stone, I think."