ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The recipe certainly was not ideal tonight for fourth-ranked North Dakota.

The newly-named Fighting Hawks, battling co-NCHC leader St. Cloud State, were outshot (and out-attempted) for the first time all season, and fairly decisively at that. UND also gave the Huskies' potent power play five chances and 12 shots on goal. On top of that, SCSU was dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 45 of 70.

But the only statistics that mattered tonight were Drake Caggiula's first collegiate hat trick and Matt Hrynkiw's career-high 35 saves.

Those two ingredients were enough to cook up a 4-3 win for the visiting Fighting Hawks, who grabbed sole possession of first place in the NCHC while handing the Huskies their first home loss of the season.

Caggiula scored twice in the first period to give UND a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. He scored again 28 seconds into the third period, the eventual game-winning goal that made it 4-2.

When the smoke had cleared, Caggiula and linemates Nick Schmaltz (3 assists) and Brock Boeser (1 assist) had combined for a 7-point night, giving the trio 20 in UND's last three games.

“They were impressive,” said Hrynkiw of the 'CBS' line. “When (Drake's) around the net, he can put it in quickly. He was impressive for sure, that whole line.”

The night started ominously for that line, as Nick Schmaltz hit the post in the game's opening minutes, one of several posts Schmaltz has rattled in recent weeks. But they got untracked on Caggiula's first goal 6:20 into the game, four minutes after the Huskies' Judd Peterson had opened the scoring.

Caggiula scored again on the power play with 6:23 left in the period, converting a cross-crease feed from freshman Rhett Gardner.

Gardner extended the lead to 3-1 at 5:48 of the second period, his third goal in as many games.

Jimmy Murray responded for the Huskies on the power play late in the middle frame, finding the top corner with a rocket of a one-timer from the faceoff dot. But Caggiula's hat trick goal on the first shift of the second period – he shelfed a rebound off the end boards – stood up as the difference.

“That's indicative of how he's played his whole career at North Dakota,” UND head coach Brad Berry said of his senior assistant captain. “He plays with passion and he has good offensive ability. He capitalized. The other two guys on his line played well, too. They had some chemistry together.”

David Morley pulled the Huskies to within one with 5:08 remaining in regulation, but Hrynkiw and friends withstood a late-game barrage by the hosts to improve to 10-1-2 in Berry's first year behind the bench. Hrynkiw made 25 saves over the final two periods for his league-leading ninth win of the year.

“I thought he did a good job of making the initial save,” said Berry. “That was his toughest test of the year as far as workload, and he responded with a good effort.”

Hrynkiw said he wasn't fazed by the heavy St. Cloud pressure.

“The intensity of this game was really off the charts. Right from the get go they had pace and got pucks to the net and had a lot of two on ones. Kind of caught us off guard for a little bit, but I knew our team would rally and we did a good job of that,” said Hrynkiw. “The game stays the same (for the goalie). You're still just trying to make that save. Whatever comes your way, it's the same game.”

Berry said his team would need to tighten up defensively on Saturday if it hoped to secure its first sweep in St. Cloud since 1998-99.

“You've got to remember, that's a team that's senior-laden up front with forwards who have high-end skill. They're gonna make plays,” said Berry. “It's just about us limiting their Grade A chances and keeping them outside to the perimeter. They're a good team and I thought we responded very well and had some answers when we were pressed a little bit.”

Three of those answers were provided by Caggiula, who offered a smile when asked about the play of his line.

“It's a lot of fun playing with those two guys,” said Caggiula. “We've got to play just as good (on Saturday) as we did tonight, if not better. They're going to come hard tomorrow. It's always hard to sweep, especially on the road. They're going to come back with a hard push.”

Notes: SCSU outshot the Fighting Hawks 38-26 and owned a 68-47 edge in shot attempts … Caggiula, Schmaltz and Morley were chosen as the game's three stars … Caggiula extended his point streak to five games (5 goals, 3 assists) while Schmaltz pushed his to four (2 goals, 8 assists) … Senior forward Bryn Chyzyk will play in his 100th collegiate game on Saturday. Caggiula is UND's only other active player to have reached that milestone … UND alums Chris Gotziaman (1990-94), Dino Grillo (1992-94), Mike Possin (1998-2001), Travis Roche (1999-2001) and Ed Thomlinson (1957-60) were all in attendance. Possin, Roche and Thomlinson all won national championships while at North Dakota.