GRAND FORKS, N.D. --  When you have the best horse in the race, you ride him hard to the finish line, usually coming up a winner.

That was UND senior center Rhett Gardner in a nutshell Saturday night, according to University of North Dakota hockey coach Brad Berry.

Gardner scored the tying and winning goals 41 seconds apart in the third period to rally UND (7-5-1)  from a 3-1 deficit to a 4-3 victory and a weekend sweep of the nonconference series with Alaska Anchorage (1-10-1).

He scored his first on a deflection on a power play, his second on a great individual effort. Gardner tipped in a point shot by freshman defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker at 8:48, then broke down left wing to deke Anchorage goalie Kristian Stead and beat him with a backhand at 9:29 to complete the stunning comeback.

"A leader takes a team on his back, and that's what he did,'' Berry said of Gardner. "He had a lot of gas in the tank tonight, We rode him hard, He was up to 23, 24 minutes, and for a forward that's a lot of minutes.''

The rally started when sophomore defenseman Matt Kiersted took a Jordan Kawaguchi pass and rifled his third goal of the season past Stead on a power play at 8:05 to make it 3-2.  That triggered a span of 84 seconds when UND turned the 3-1 deficit into a 4-3 victory to thunderous cheers from a Subway Holiday Classic crowd of 11,086.

Wringing a victory and a sweep from the jaws of defeat sets up UND in better shape for what's ahead, facing National Collegiate Hockey Conference powers Minnesota Duluth and Denver the next two weekends.

Berry and the players all talked about the key to success was keeping things simple, grinding things out, and staying together as a team.

"One thing we learned last week (being swept by Western Michigan), we've got to stick to what we do,'' Gardner said. "I thought we did tonight. I think that's going to help us down the year. Obviously we're not going to be up in every game. We've got to be a resilient bunch.''

They needed that resiliency tonight when breaks went against the Fighting Hawks early. Senior center Nicolas Erb-Ekholm scored the first of his two goals when his shot hit traffic and fluttered past UND goalie Adam Scheel just 1:20 into the game.

Later, Erb-Ekholm caught another break when his cross-ice pass was tipped by UND's Cole Smith, with the puck deflecting back on goal and past Scheel to make it 2-0 for the Seawolves early in the second period.

After UND's Bernard-Docker and Anchorage's Eric Sinclair traded goals for a 3-1 Seawolf lead after two periods, UND found the magic to pull out the win,

Anchorage pulled Stead for an extra attacker with 1:26 left in regulation, and applied heavy pressure, But then a break went UND's way.

Anchorage defenseman Tomi Hiekkavitra clanked a point slap shot off the crossbar and out of play in the final minute of play. But earlier in the same period, UND defenseman Colton Poolman hit the crossbar on the other end.

After losing twice last weekend, rallying to get a sweep was big for UND. "Obviously it's a huge momentum push,'' Gardner said. "We're definitely going to feed off it going into four NCHC games here before Christmas. Hopefully we'll get a little streak going.''

Surviving the hectic final minute built some confidence in UND as well. "The big thing here is our resiliency and resolve,'' Berry said "And the team-first attitude to block some shots. When you sell your body out in the last minute and a half when the puck is coming at you 100 miles an hour, it was all the guys on the ice doing it.''

Success on the power play was a another bright spot. After going 2-for-3 on the power play in Friday's 5-2 win, UND converted 2-for-5 in tonight's win."Quicker puck movement and better net-front,'' Berry said of the reasons why the power play has found life.''

Notes: UND outshot the Seawolves 36-23 with a consistent attack featuring 12 shots on net all three periods . . . Named as the three stars by the media, in order, were Gardner, Bernard-Docker and Anchorage's Erb-Ekholm . . . Gardner and Bernard-Docker led UND in shots on goal with 6 apiece . . . Hayden Shaw blocked 4 shots and Gabe Bast 3 to lead UND . . . Joining Gardner (2 goals) with two-point games were Grant Mismash and Kawaguchi with 2 assists, and Bernard-Docker, with a goal and an assist . . . Scheel finished with 20 saves for UND, Stead with 32 for Anchorage . . . Gardner delivered another monster night in the faceoff circle, winning 29 of 40 draws. Since UND began keeping records on faceoffs, only Corban Knight and Chris VandeVelde have more career faceoff wins. .. Gardner's two goals give him 8 on the season, already surpassing his 7 from last year.

Virg Foss covered UND hockey for 35 seasons for the Grand Forks Herald, including 5 NCAA title teams, before his retirement. Since his retirement, he's reported on UND hockey games exclusively for FightingHawks.com. This marks his 50th season since he began covering UND hockey in 1969.