GRAND FORKS, N.D. --  Being ranked No. 1 in the national polls means little more this time of the year in the college hockey ranks than painting a bigger target on the backs of the nation's top-ranked team.

No. 7-ranked Minnesota Duluth took dead aim at No. 1-ranked North Dakota tonight and hit the target enough to skate out of Ralph Engelstad Arena with a 4-1 National Collegiate Hockey Conference victory in front of 10,898 fans.

The Bulldogs, who have sole possession of the lead in the NCHC race, outshot North Dakota 37-24 and broke a 1-1 tie midway through the final period with two goals a minute apart to take the series opener.

North Dakota's Connor Gaarder created the tie with his wrister from outside the left faceoff circle that beat Duluth freshman goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo just inside the far post to tie it at 1-1 at 10:05 of the final period.

UND had no chance to build on that momentum. Duluth's Willie Raskob deked his way past UND captain Stephane Pattyn from the right point to work deep into the attack zone to set up the tie-snapping goal.

He then made a cross-ice pass to his left to Tony Cameransi for what proved to be the winning goal at 11:12 of the third period.

Defenseman Carson Soucy scored on a 4-on-4 rush at 12:14 to make it 3-1. Duluth iced it with an empty-net goal from Alex Iafalo with 14 seconds left after UND had pulled goalie Zane McIntyre for a sixth attack with 2:28 left in the game.

The 37-24 shot edge for Duluth was the most shots UND has allowed this season. The Bulldogs also topped their season scoring average of 3.3 goals a game, best in the league.

Duluth struck back fast after Gaarder had given UND some offensive life. "They didn't sit down there after we tied it up,'' Gaarder said. "That's part of good team. We knew they weren't going to lay down after we tied it up.''

"A hard-fought game,'' UND coach Dave Hakstol said. "They made more plays.''

It was not UND's best performance of the season, nobody disputed that.

"We'll regroup and be a little bit better, maybe a little bit better in a lot of different areas,'' Hakstol said. "We were uncharacteristically loose with the puck tonight. We weren't hard enough on pucks. We just need to be better collectively.''

McIntyre kept UND in the game with his 33-save performance, including a string of outstanding saves in the second period. The Bulldogs outshot UND 18-10 in the middle frame but had to settle for a 1-0 lead on Kyle Osterberg's goal.

"He (McIntyre) was outstanding,'' Hakstol said. "He's been great for us all year. He did a great job for us tonight. He gave us a chance to be in it down the stretch. Unfortunately, we didn't do enough to take advantage of that.''

Each team had a goal disallowed after video review, in both cases for having a player in the crease interfering with the goalie.

UND's Drake Caggiula had a goal wiped out in the first period, Duluth's Adam Kruse had one erased early in the second period.

The victory was the 10th in the last 12 games for the Bulldogs, now 9-22-3 vs. Hakstol teams in his 11 seasons at UND.

"Duluth's a good team,'' Gaarder said. "We've got to come out harder and play a little faster and close a bit quicker in our 'D' zone. I think everything kind of fell out of place there. I think we have to play better defensively tomorrow night.''

After a scoreless first period, Duluth outshot UND 29-17 over the final two periods and broke through with the four goals to snatch a big road victory.

UND defenseman Gage Ausmus thought his team might have had the game tilting its way after Gaarder's goal.

"After that goal, for about a 20-second span, we had it in their zone again,'' Ausmus said. "They came down and scored right away, and that kind of takes the energy right out of you.''

North Dakota slipped to 6-4-1 in the NCHC and 13-6-2 overall. Duluth, which has played one of the toughest schedules in the country, improved to 8-3-0 in the NCHC and 14-6 overall.

Game notes: Cameranesi and Dominic Toninato had 5 shots on goal each to pace Duluth while Caggiula's 3 was best for UND ... Duluth was 0-3 on the power play with 5 shots on goal, UND 0-1 with 1 shot ... UND's top line of Mark MacMillan, Michael Parks and Brendan O'Donnell had a combined one shot on goal, that by MacMillan ... UND had a 35-18 edge in faceoffs, paced by MacMillan (13 of 20) and Caggiula (7 of 8).