GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- UND men's hockey coach Dave Hakstol had no need for a snack of a post-game grinder tonight.

He saw his top-ranked team chew its way through one on the ice in a 3-1 nonconference victory over Lake Superior State at Ralph Engelstad Arena to give UND a sweep of the two-game series.

"It was a grind, right from the drop of the puck,'' Hakstol said. "That's probably the best way I can describe it. I thought it was a grind for 60 minutes.''

Even though UND limited the Lakers to six shots on goal over the first 40 minutes, LSS did chop UND's lead to 2-1 in the third period before defenseman Jordan Schmaltz ripped a slapper from the right point at 16:59 of the final period to close the scoring at 3-1.

UND limited the Lakers to 17 total shots on goal, a season low for an UND foe,

But the Lakers managed 11 shots in the final period and scored on Stephen Perfetto's slider through the legs of UND goalie Zane McIntyre (16 saves) at 14:50 of the third period.

Shortly after that, UND Trevor Olson hit the crossbar flush at 15:56 and Nick Schmaltz hit the goal post square 34 seconds later.

But Nick's older brother Jordan scored UND's second power-play goal of the game 30 seconds after his brother chimed the post to give UND breathing room.

UND scored on 2 of 4 power play chances after converting 3-out-of-4 chances Friday night in a 7-4 victory.

In addition, UND killed off seven Laker power plays, allowing just six total shots.

"It was a little frustrating being in the penalty box as much as we were,'' Hakstol said. "But our penalty killers did a good job, and on the flip side, our power play answered. We didn't have a ton of opportunities, but we had enough -- and we made them count.''

The sweep in front of 11,617 boosted UND's nonconference record to 7-1-1 with two non-league games remaining. A year ago, a sub-par record in nonconference play left UND needing help on the final day of post-season tournaments to earn an invite to the NCAA tournament, where UND advanced to the Frozen Four.

"Not too shabby,'' McIntyre said of UND's nonconference record. "There hasn't been a full 60-minute game that we've played yet. Right now we've put ourselves in decent position.''

On the down side, sophomore defenseman Troy Stecher had to be helped off the ice late in the third period after he hit the end boards awkwardly and hard with his left knee and ankle while fighting for the puck.

On Friday night, UND lost Drake Caggiula and Colten St. Clair to injuries in the first period, though Caggiula did return to play tonight, contributing an assist.

"That's been a common theme (injuries) for us the last month,'' Hakstol said. "Our guys have been resilient. We'll try to get him (Stecher) healthy as soon as we can. In the meantime, other guys will step in and play a role and do the job.''

UND didn't dig itself into a 4-1 hole like it did Friday before rallying with a 5-goal second period in the 7-4 win. Brendan O'Donnell broke a scoreless tie at 1:40 of the second period when Jordan Schmaltz's power-play blast point hit O'Donnell in front of the net and the puck fluttered over the left shoulder of LSS goalie Gordon Defiel (26 saves).

Sophomore Luke Johnson snapped a seven-game drought of goals when he threaded a wrister from the faceoff circle through Defiel's legs at 8:16 of the third period to make it 2-0.

Johnson chalked up his fourth of the season, his first since Nov. 8 at Wisconsin.

"It definitely does (get frustrating),'' Johnson said of some bad luck he's run into as a sniper in the previous seven games. "But you've just got to continue to work, and good things will come.''

That stood up as the game-winning goal as LSS's Perfetto and UND's Jordan Schmaltz traded late goals.

"It was a hard-fought game,'' Johnson said. "I thought tonight we were sloppy at times, but we found a way to work through it and score some goals and create some offense.''

Said McIntyre: "Obviously there wasn't much flow to the game,'' he said. "But we were able to stay persistent and keep pushing for it, which was good.''

Game notes: Named the three stars by the media were Johnson, O'Donnell and Tucker Poolman, all of UND, in that order ... The previous fewest shots by an opponent this season was 20 by Wisconsin on Nov. 7 in a 4-3 UND win ... Johnson led UND in shots on goal with five, followed by Stecher, O'Donnell, Keaton Thompson and Mark MacMillan, all with three ... Lake Superior dropped to 3-15 overall and is 0-4 all-time vs. UND ... UND had a 32-23 edge in faceoffs, led by MacMillan (17 of 23).

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