No. 8 North Dakota scored three second-period goals to seize control in a 7-2 win over (RV) Omaha Hockey on Friday night before 7,169 at Baxter Arena.
North Dakota (6-3) improves to 2-1 in the NCHC, while the Mavs (4-3) drop to 2-1 in league play.
Omaha opened conference play with a series sweep at No. 15 Colorado College last weekend, but the Mavs played from behind most of Friday as North Dakota took advantage of its special teams.
North Dakota scored four power-play goals and held Omaha to 1 of 4 on power plays. Early in the third period, the Mavs trailed 4-2 and had a man advantage for five minutes, but they were unable to draw closer.
The teams traded power-play goals in a 1-1 opening period.
Ten seconds after Omaha was called for a penalty, North Dakota grabbed the lead on a Dylan James goal five minutes into the game.
But North Dakota, which went 3-1 against the Mavs last season, would be called for three penalties in the final six minutes of the first period.
Skating with a 4-on-3 advantage, Omaha tied it when Jacob Guevin fired a shot past North Dakota goalie Jan Spunar. It was Guevin's second goal this season and
Luke Woodworth was credited with his fifth assist.
"I really liked our first period. I thought it was one of our best first periods we've played this season," Omaha head coach
Mike Gabinet said. "Obviously in the second period, they capitalized on our mistakes."
Omaha also started the second period on a power play, but it was North Dakota that controlled the period.
North Dakota killed off the penalty and regained the lead when Mac Swanson scored in front of the net with 14:38 left in the period.
In the next 11 minutes, North Dakota's Ben Strinden scored on a crossing pass from Cody Croal and Will Zellers added a power-play goal to make it 4-1 with 3:38 left in the period.
Omaha didn't have a shot-on-goal in the first nine minutes of the period, but the Mavs took some momentum into the second intermission as
Marc Lajoie scored from
Tyler Rollwagen and
Samuel Huo with 7.9 seconds left to make it 4-2.
And after killing off the five-minute major penalty, North Dakota scored its final three goals in the last 10 minutes. James, Zellers and Strinden each had two goals on the night.
"Five-on-five, I thought we did some good things," Gabinet said. "We just have to be a little smarter with the puck."
Omaha and North Dakota finish their series at 7 p.m. Saturday at Baxter Arena with the action streaming live on NCHC.tv and airing on 1290 KOIL and the Varsity Network.
Tickets are on-sale now at OMavs.com/Tickets or by calling 402-554-MAVS.
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