ST. CLOUD, Minn. -- For the first time this season, the University of North Dakota men's hockey team knew how it felt to taste defeat on the road as St. Cloud State defeated UND 3-1 Friday night at Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.

“They were the better team. There were things in the game they did better, from faceoffs to taking care of pucks,” said UND head coach Dave Hakstol. “They generated quite a bit of offense off of faceoffs, not to mention starting with the puck, whether it's neutral zone or offensive zone.”

In an arena in which North Dakota hasn't swept St. Cloud since 1998, the green and white carried a 5-0-0-road record into St. Cloud, and looked to continue its road ways on Friday.

In front of a crowd of 4,822 mixed with red and green, UND came out the gates with the eagerness it had been looking to establish for the last few games.

“I thought we started off really strong, which was our game plan, to come out and try to take over the game early,” said senior captain Stephane Pattyn.

UND established the forecheck early in the game, rolling all four lines. However, North Dakota couldn't turn any of its chances into goals.

Pattyn added, “Not scoring in that first seven minutes might have been a key. We didn't get enough pucks to the net.”

After killing off a UND power play attempt midway through the first period, the Huskies found life. St. Cloud outshot UND 5-2 in the final eight minutes of the first period, but neither team could find the back of the net prior to intermission.

At the first intermission, shots were even at seven and the score was even at zero.

St. Cloud started the scoring 5:10 into the second period on the power play. With Luke Johnson in the box, Ethan Prow fired a shot from the point that deflected off of Michael Parks' stick and a UND defenseman before floating past McIntyre to give the Huskies a 1-0 lead.

However, North Dakota pushed back.

After more sustained zone time for UND, Drake Caggiula caught a loose puck off a rebound, dropped it down to his stick, and fired it past Charlie Lindgren to even the game up at 1-1.

For Caggiula, the goal was his seventh of the season and his seventeenth point, which leads the NCHC. Tucker Poolman and Mark MacMillan picked up the assists on the goal.

St. Cloud outshot UND 19-10 in the second period, the 19 shots by the Huskies the most UND has given up all season in a single period.

Early in the third period, the Huskies took the lead on Jonny Brodzinski's sixth goal of the season. Brodzinski's shot hit Stephane Pattyn in the back and found its way past McIntyre to give the Huskies their second lead of the night.

Just eight minutes later, Brodzinski got a second puck past McIntyre to give the Huskies a 3-1 lead. The goal, Brodzinski's seventh of the year and second of the night, was the Huskies' second power play goal of the night on the slick pass from Joey Benik.

Brodzinski finished with seven shots to lead all players.

“He shot the puck a lot tonight,” said Hakstol. “I'm sure a few of them were on their power plays, but in all areas of the game he had a lot of shooting attempts tonight. We've got to do a better job in that area.”

North Dakota could not get many opportunities as the game drew to a close, as the Huskies held on to a 3-1 victory.

The Huskies outshot UND 34-27 in the game, with Zane McIntyre making 31 saves in the loss for UND. St. Cloud also dominated the faceoff circle, winning 34 of 56 faceoffs. Kalle Kossila led the Huskies by going 15-9 in the circle.

“They're very strong on their draws and they win a lot of battles. Their wingers get in to help, too, so we just need to do a better job on faceoffs tomorrow,” said sophomore forward Luke Johnson.

Pattyn added, “Especially early. First period they were really strong on faceoffs. We tried to bear down a bit and tie them up for the last two periods. They're a good faceoff team and we have to be better tomorrow.”

The two-game series concludes at 7:07 p.m. Central.

Notes: Junior forward Bryn Chyzyk suffered an injury late in the second period and did not play in the third. Following the game, Hakstol did not yet know Chyzyk's status for Saturday night … MacMillan's point was his 11th during NCHC play, which leads the league … Caggiula's goal extended his career-best point streak to six games … The line of Caggiula-Parks-MacMillan has scored UND's last seven goals spanning the last three games.