COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- North Dakota senior forward Mark MacMillan joked at the team hotel on Thursday that he was going to score seven goals this weekend.

After just 20 minutes of Friday night's game, his light-hearted prediction seemed like it just might come true.

MacMillan scored a pair of first-period goals – his first of the season – as third-ranked UND built a 3-0 lead and survived penalty trouble on the way to a 3-1 win over Colorado College, the NCHC opener for both schools.

MacMillan's rebound goal on the power-play at 16:33 and his deflection of a Troy Stecher point shot at 19:58 book-ended Brendan O'Donnell's first goal of the season and sent UND into the first intermission with a 3-goal lead on the host Tigers.

The goals by the senior duo all came within close range of CC netminder Tyler Marble, something that was a point of emphasis for UND head coach Dave Hakstol.

“It was one of our keys coming into tonight,” said Hakstol. “We thought we had to get to the top of the blue paint, especially on the road, and try to establish a presence there and maybe score a couple of ugly goals. And that happened tonight.”

MacMillan, whose first goal came during a goal-mouth scramble and whose second came while screening Marble, agreed with his coach.

“Any time you want to score goals in college hockey, you're going to have to go hard to the net,” said MacMillan. “They don't come easy. Three goals right on top of the crease – that's what we need to do tomorrow night, too.”

O'Donnell's goal, a one-timer on top of the crease off a Connor Gaarder centering pass, stood as the game-winner. But it was UND junior goalie Zane McIntyre who was the difference.

McIntyre was often spectacular in a 31-save effort, particularly in the first period while the game was still scoreless. Hakstol pointed to McIntyre's save on a Christian Heil breakaway and another save on a partial Hunter Fejes breakway as pivotal moments early in the game.

McIntyre, a Thief River Falls, Minn., native, said he thrived on the work.

“Those periods are fun as a goalie. You signed up for the job for a reason. You gotta stop the puck and help your team out,” said McIntyre. “(In the) third period, we locked it down and played solid hockey. We had a couple of huge blocks. I think a lot of guys contributed to the win, especially in the third period.”

To get to that third period, though, UND had to survive more than seven minutes on the penalty kill during a second period in which it was assessed five minor penalties. Although UND managed to kill four of them, and go 6-for-7 in the game, Hakstol said the time spent shorthanded had an effect.

“We can't do that,” Hakstol said of the penalties. “They were stick penalties, each and every one except one check from behind. We survived that, but it had a real effect on our energy level. We played a good third period, but our energy levels weren't very good.”

Fejes was the lone Tiger to solve McIntyre, taking advantage of a lively bounce off the end boards and tucking the puck inside the post before McIntyre could recover. The power-play tally at 6:00 of the second period was the only dent on McIntyre's performance.

“It's not an easy place to win on a Friday night, I can tell you that,” said Hakstol. “It's a great win for us. There are a lot of things we want to try to correct going into tomorrow, but it was a real gutsy win by our players.”

UND (2-1-0, 1-0-0 NCHC) and CC (2-1-0, 0-1-0 NCHC) will conclude their series Saturday night at 8:07 p.m. Mountain.

Notes: The win was Hakstol's 262nd as UND head coach, tying him with his predecessor and current Omaha coach Dean Blais for second-most in school history. Gino Gasparini holds the school record with 392 wins from 1978 to 1994 … Tonight's attendance was 6,643 … UND went 1-for-5 on the power play and CC went 1-for-7 … Marble made 36 saves for the Tigers, including 14 in the third period … UND is looking for its first sweep in Colorado Springs since Feb. 2010. Prior to that, UND's last sweep at CC came in Jan. 1999.