GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- Providence College hockey coach Nate Leaman left here Saturday night without a win for his team in either game of a key weekend nonconference series.

Yet he also left proud of the effort of his team in tonight's 2-2 overtime tie after he expressed plenty of disappointment in how his team was outworked in Friday's 6-1 loss to homestanding North Dakota.

"I'm disappointed we didn't come out with a win tonight,'' Leaman said, "but they're a good hockey team. I think they are very deserving of their ranking (No. 3 in the national polls). I think their defensemen are really tough to handle from the offensive standpoint.''

Providence, with a sellout crowd of 11,676 on hand in Ralph Engelstad Arena, pulled out the tie with 38.3 seconds left in regulation play after goalie Jon Gillies was pulled for a sixth attacker with 1:29 left.

Junior center Nick Saracino, who had scored Providence's first goal, tipped in a point shot by Jake Walman past UND goalie Zane McIntyre glove side with time running out to set up the scoreless overtime period.

Late in the first period, Saracini scored with just one second left on a 5-on-3 power play when he gathered a puck that bounced off the back wall to him at the side of the net, where he flipped it past McIntyre before he could cover the short side.

Going into the game, UND had to deal with a injury to senior captain Mark MacMillan that UND officials say will sideline him indefinitely. MacMillan underwent wrist surgery Saturday morning after his wrist was sliced by a skate in Friday's UND win.

UND shuffled three of its four lines with Macmillan out and picked up goals by sophomore center Luke Johnson (his second in two games) late in the first period and the first career goal by freshman wing Austin Poganski on a rebound off a Bryn Chyzk shot at 8:15 of the third period to make it 2-1.

But Providence (1-2-1), ranked No. 5 nationally, pressed hard in the last half of the third period and benefited with Saracino's deflection to salvage a tie out of the series.

"It's tough to give up a late goal,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "You want a little bit better when you have a one-goal lead. There are some areas we have to improve upon.''

In a battle of much-hyped goalie, McIntyre finished with 31 saves to 24 for Gillies with each logging spectacular stops. McIntyre was named the game's first star by the media.

"As disappointing as it is to give up that goal and end up with a tie, you also have to turn around the look at the positives,'' Hakstol said. "We got a series win against a really good team. Our team competed hard, and we improved a little this weekend.''

UND stretched its unbeaten streak to five games (4-1-1) heading into the Hall of Fame game Nov. 1 vs. Air Force Academy at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

In a battle of teams picked in preseason polls to win their respective leagues, Saturday's game lived up to the battle everyone expected of this series.

"Fun. Exciting. Playoff hockey,'' McIntyre said. "Two big giants going at it in college hockey, so a good series, I think.''

UND earned more than a win and a tie, according to McIntyre.

"It's obviously a learning curve, playing a big game like this early on in the year,'' McIntyre said. "A lot of people can take away great things, like our young guys, especially how to close out a game in a big situation like tonight.''

Playing without his captain was on McIntyre's mind, too.

"It's both good news and bad news,'' McIntyre said. "I know he thought it could have been a lot worse with the injury. The good news is that we have a lot of depth on our team. That's maybe one of our strengths.''

Notes: UND, 7 for 14 on the power play over the previous two games, was 0-7 tonight. Providence was 1-for-7 on the power play ... Providence won the faceoff battle 38-34, led by center Ross Mauermann, who won 16 of 24 draw ... Freshman Nick Schwartz won 7 of 9 to lead UND ... Johnson led UND in shots on goal with 4 ... Saracino paced the Friars with 6 as Providence finished with a 33-26 shot advantage.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement in 2005. He's now in his 10th season of reporting on UND games exclusively for UNDsports.com.