Despite drawing first blood tonight, the No. 20 Omaha Mavericks fell 4-2 in tonight's series opener against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs.

Duluth, Minnesota native Nolan Krenzen got the scoring started in tonight's contest when he finished a 2-on-1 10:41 to play in the 2^nd period. Ray Fust tallied the primary helper while Griffin Ludtke had the secondary. With 2:32 remaining in the 2^nd period, UMD evened things at 1-1 when Ben Steeves put home a loose puck low in the Omaha zone.

The Bulldogs opened the 3^rd period fast by taking a 2-1 lead just 65 seconds into the frame. Omaha had an even quicker response when Jack Randl netted his third goal of the season just 17 seconds later. Ty Mueller won the faceoff back to Jo Lemay who fired a shot on new that was cleaned up by Randl on the doorstep.

UMD's game winning goal came with 7:01 to play in regulation. Connor Mcmenamin put away a 3-on-2 rush scoring off his own rebound. The Mavericks would go on to push back with the clocking ticking down but were unable to answer UMD's late lamp lighter. The Bulldogs empty net goal with 63 seconds would put the finishing touches on tonight's series opener.

Omaha held the nation's top power play scoreless tonight in three attempts. The Mavericks didn't allow a shot on goal in two of the Bulldogs three opportunities and held them to just two total shots while on the penalty kill.

Tonight marks just the fourth time Omaha has been out shot this season. The Mavericks have been good in their responses on the campaign after dropping the opening game of the weekend. Omaha is 2-0 this year the next game after losing on Friday.

The Mavericks and Bulldogs will do it all again tomorrow night from Amsoil Arena. The two NCHC foes will drop the puck a bit earlier tomorrow with go time slated for 5:07 p.m.