By Virg Foss
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota men's hockey team stretched its unbeaten streak to nine games tonight, but certainly not in the manner that left them with a warm-and-fuzzy feeling.
The Fighting Sioux led 3-0 after one period and appeared well on the way to their first home sweep since Oct. 6-7 against Quinnipiac.
But Minnesota State-Mankato rallied for two goals with its goalie pulled for an extra attacker in the final 73 seconds to salvage a 4-4 overtime tie with the Sioux.
Jon Kalinski's goal at 18:47 was followed by a goal-mouth tally by Mankato's leading scorer, Travis Morin, with just five seconds left in regulation play. That goal came on a 6-on-5 power play with UND's Brad Miller serving a cross checking minor.
The Sioux, who beat the Mavericks 8-4 on Friday for their third straight win over Mankato this season, shot to a 3-0 lead in the opening period, but couldn't maintain that level of play.
Sioux senior captain Chris Porter (Thunder Bay, Ontario), got the Sioux off to a quick start with his goal just 59 seconds into the game,. He got a stick on a bouncing puck after a lead pass from defenseman Robbie Bina (Grand Forks, N.D.) with the puck squirming past MSU goalie Mike Zacharias. It was Porter's sixth goal this season and first in the last six games.
Sioux sophomore defenseman Taylor Chorney (Hastings, Minn.), walked in untouched from the left point to score his sixth goal of the season at 9:18 of the opening period for a 2-0 cushion.
Then sophomore center Jonathan Toews (Winnipeg, Manitoba) undressed Maverick freshman defenseman Nick Canzanello with a mesmerizing move for his 10th goal of the season at 16:42 and a 3-0 Sioux lead.
But the Mavericks countered with goals by Mick Berge and Kael Moullierat in the second period and the two stunning goals with their goalie pulled at the end of regulation play to forge the 4-4 tie.
Toews had given the Sioux a 4-2 lead at 16:45 of the the final period with his power-play wrister. It was his second goal of the game, his 11th of the season and his 15th point (6 goals, 9 assists) in his last five games.
"We got off to that 3-0 lead and I thought we were doing all the little things right,'' Porter said. "About halfway through the second period, we started to get away from that. We weren't finishing checks, we weren't getting in on the forecheck, and we were turning the puck over at their blue line -- and they were playing well. They're a good team, and when you makes mistakes like that, they're going to try to jam it down our throats. That's what they did on the turnovers we had.''
It all added up to an improbable tie when a rare Sioux home sweep seemed imminent.
"They generated and awful lot of energy off their first goal,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said of Berge's goal at 5:33 of the second period that sparked Mankato's comeback.
"From there, it was kind of a slug fest,'' Hakstol said. "Certainly on our part, we didn't make enough plays in the second half of the game while they got a little bit stronger.''
Even so, Hakstol walked away glad that the Sioux took three out of a possible four points in the series to maintain their grip on fifth place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, the last home-ice playoff position.
"Points this time of year are tough to come by,'' Hakstol said. "We got three out of four points. We're not going to be negative about this. We're going to put those points in the bank. We have to keep moving forward.''
The Sioux are now 9-1-2 in their last 12 games and unbeaten in their last nine, so there was reason to feel good overall about the weekend.
"This wasn't our best performance tonight,'' Hakstol said, "but I give Minnesota State a lot of credit. We need to come back and continue getting better. We haven't lost in quite a few games. That's a positive sign for us.''
For Mankato, which came into the weekend with visions of catching the Sioux for fifth place, the comeback left them with some satisfaction despite salvaging just the one point.
"Being down 3-0 in this building and 4-2 with just over a minute left, it was a great tie for us,'' Mankato coach Troy Jutting said. "We weren't very good the first 20 minutes or so, but the last 45 is how we've been playing of late.''
The Mavericks outshot the Sioux 25-24 for the game, including 21-14 over the last two periods and the 5-minute overtime.
Junior goalie Philippe Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) finished with 21 saves to 20 for MSU's Zacharias.
The Sioux, 10-9-2 in the WCHA and 16-11-3 overall, slipped from a tie for sixth to eight in the PairWise Rankings, which mimic the formula used to eventually choose the 16 teams who'll compete in the NCAA tournament. Mankato is 7-12-5 in the WCHA and 10-16-6 overall.
The Sioux stay at home next weekend to face Minnesota Duluth in their last regular-season home series of the season before closing the schedule with two games each at Denver and St. Cloud State.
