BURLINGTON, Vt. – The incredible Matt Hrynkiw story continues.

Making his first collegiate road start, North Dakota's No. 3 goaltender – a label that now seems rather dubious -- stopped all 27 shots he faced to carry the nation's top-ranked team to a 2-0 win over Vermont on Friday night.

During the summer, freshman Matej Tomek, a Philadelphia third-round pick, suffered an injury that required surgery. With Tomek still on the shelf, sophomore Cam Johnson went down at the end of the second period one week ago at Bemidji State.

Enter Hrynkiw, a former walk-on who has now put together a shutout streak spanning five-plus periods. His counterpart at the other end of the ice, Vermont's Mike Santaguida, was spectacular in a 39-save performance, but Hrynkiw was perfect.

The Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native made eight saves in both the first and second periods and 11 in the third for UND's first shutout since last January.

The shutout win kept UND unbeaten early in the season at 3-0-2.

“I thought he was outstanding tonight,” UND head coach Brad Berry said of his goaltender. “He made the saves he should've saved and he was sharp all night. We need that. He's got the mental focus and he feels comfortable now. Tomorrow is another night and he's got to start over again.”

Johnny Simonson scored a second period goal off a Gage Ausmus rebound and Bryn Chyzyk found the net on a power-play in the third, converting a Nick Schmaltz cross-crease feed.

Hrynkiw did the rest, including a sequence of four straight stops during a goal-mouth scramble midway through the third period.

“I was just trying to take it a save at a time,” said Hrynkiw. “In that third period, I was just trying to tell myself (the shutout) is irrelevant.”

Hrynkiw joined Clarke Saunders (2012-13) and Aaron Dell (2009-10) as recent UND goaltenders to record a shutout in the first road start at UND. His shutout streak stands at 105 minutes, 53 seconds entering Saturday's series finale.

“I thought the whole team came ready to play right from the drop of the puck,” said Hrynkiw. “We were pressing the whole game, just bringing momentum, shift after shift, all four lines. It made my job pretty easy tonight and it was a lot of fun out there.”

After a scoreless first period, Simonson broke the stalemate with his second goal of the year. The Grand Forks, N.D., native was parked on the doorstep to gobble up Ausmus' point shot rebound at 12:25 of the middle frame.

Chyzyk added the insurance tally at 5:25 of the third period to finish off a pretty sequence by first-round picks Schmaltz and Brock Boeser. Boeser, one of five forwards on the ice for UND, dove to keep the puck in at the center of the blueline and worked the puck to Schmaltz in the left circle. Schmaltz fed a perfect pass across the top of the goalmouth to Chyzyk, who had a wide-open net in which to deposit his team-leading fourth goal of the year.

“I thought it was a real good effort from all of our guys,” said Chyzyk.

Hrynkiw ensured the two goals would suffice, running his improbable unbeaten streak to three games.

“We know how hard he works and we knew he'd be ready for every opportunity,” said Chyzyk of Hrynkiw. “He's been waiting two years to get a chance in net and I think he's going to take the bull by the horns.”

UND finished the night 1-4 on the power play while holding the Catamounts scoreless in its two tries.

“I thought we got better as the game went on,” said Berry. “I think we can be better tomorrow. We rolled four lines and six defensemen; there should be a lot of energy in the tank tomorrow.”

On Saturday, a win or a tie can give UND its first unbeaten start through six games since 2002-03.

Notes: UND has lost just once in its last 20 nonconference games (15-1-4) dating back to the second half of the 2013-14 season … Simonson, Hrynkiw and Santaguida were named the game's three stars, in that order … Attendance was 4,003 in the 4,007-seat Gutterson Fieldhouse … UND is unbeaten through five games for the first time since going 4-0-1 to open the 2009-10 season.