GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- After North Dakota suffered a rare sweep at National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) rival Denver last weekend, Fighting Hawks sophomore Johnny Simsonson said UND needed to "gear up for a bounce-back weekend."
Consider the mission half accomplished, thanks to classmate Austin Poganski.
Poganski scored on an overtime penalty shot at 3:19 of the 5-minute session to give UND a 2-1 victory over Minnesota-Duluth. The dramatic win kept UND in a tie for first place in the NCHC with St. Cloud State with five games remaining for both teams.
Poganski's team-leading fifth game-winning goal came after a tripping penalty was called on Duluth defenseman Carson Soucy for tripping Poganski on a breakaway and preventing him from even getting a shot off.
Poganski went to his favorite move -- a deke to his backhand -- to beat Duluth goalie Kasimir Kaskisuo (23 saves) with his clean backhand flip past the stick side of the goalie from Finland.
It was the first overtime penalty shot goal for a UND player since Drew Stafford beat Maine 4-3 and goalie Jimmy Howard in 2004 in Dave Hakstol's first game as UND's head coach.
Poganski is known for using his backhand deke on his own goalles in shootouts simulations that UND stages at the end of every Thursday practice.
He said he knew from the time he was standing at center ice with 11,890 fans screaming that he would try his pet move.
"Sometines they (goalies) can get the blocker (glove) up there, so you've just got to find your spot and get it up there,'' Poganski said. "If it works, it works.''
Of his eight goals this season, five were credited as game winners.
"I just happen to score the right goal at the right time sometimes,'' Poganski said.
The pressure of a penalty shot in front of a sellout crowd with a tie for first place in the league standings hanging on the result didn't faze Poganski one bit.
"It's all good pressure,'' Poganski said. "It's an amazing time. It's what you live for. It's awesome.''
Before the penalty shot was awarded, UND had to kill a two-minute minor penalty on Luke Johnson for slashing at the 20-minute mark of regulation play. Overall, Duluth was 1-4 on the power play, the power play goal snapping UND's run of 20 straight sucessful kills in the previous five games.
The victory clinched home ice for the NCHC Quarterfinals beginning March 11 for UND (23-5-3 overall, 14-4-1 NCHC).
UND, ranked third nationally in the PairWise compilation and fourth in two national polls, continued Duluth's struggles this season against ranked teams. The Bulldogs (11-13-5, 7-9-3) were the preseason pick to win the league, but are now 1-10-4 against ranked teams this season.
UND sophomore goalie Cam Johnson stopped 32 of 33 Duluth shots and now has limited the Bulldogs to one goal in three games this season. He twice shut them out in Duluth earlier.
His shutout streak against Duluth ended at 135 minutes, 49 seconds when Dominic Toninato tipped a right point shot by Alex Iafalo on a power play past Johnson to the top corner stick side at 15:49 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. Duluth had been 7-0-2 when leading after one period this season until tonight.
Senior Coltyn Sanderson tied it at 1-1 at 9:05 of the second period when the Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, native caught the far corner from the left faceoff circle with a wrist shot for his third goal of the season, all coming in his last six games.
"The puck was kind of rolling on the point and I may have cheated a little bit,'' Sanderson said. "I just kind of read it was bouncing and thought it might get past the D-man. I just came off the bench and kind of had some speed. I went down the wing, and luckily it went in.''
Sanderson said it was important for his team to end the losing streak at two games.
"I think was huge for us,'' he said. "Last weekend was pretty disappointing. You put that behind you really quick. You have to flip the switch. You can't be thinking about last weekend when you have a team like Duluth coming to town.''
Or you can flip the switch by setting Poganski free on a penalty shot with the game riding on his move. That works fine, too.
"He (Poganski) does that a lot in the Thursday practices, goes across his body on the backhand,'' UND coach Brad Berry said. "I was impressed because of the way the ice usually gets late in the third (period) or in overtime, so he stuck with it. I'm proud of him.''
In a hotly contested game, Duluth outshot UND 33-25, making it the 25th time in 29 games the Bulldogs have outshot the opponent but with just 11 wins to show for it.
Game notes: UND's potent top 'CBS' line of Drake Caggiula, Brock Boeser and Nick Schmaltz was held scoreless for the second straight game with a combined five shots on goal, three of them by Schmaltz ... UND won the faceoff battle 34-29, led by Johnson (11/8) and Schmaltz (8/5) ... Defensemand Paul LaDue led UND in shots on goal with four, followed by Schmaltz ... Tony Camarenasi led Duluth with seven shots ... UND seniors Bryn Chyzyk and Colten St. Clair missed the game with undisclosed injuries. Duluth scoring leader Austin Farley is out with an upper body injury ... UND will host first round of its conference playoffs for the 14th straight year, the longest active streak in the country.
Virg Foss reported on UND hockey for 35 years and 5 national championships for the Grand Forks Herald until his retirement. He now covers games exclusively for UNDsports.com. He can be reached at virgfoss@yahoo.com.
