GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- What does it feel like when at least one sure point in the league standings slips from your grasp with 21 seconds left on the clock?

Ask the University of North Dakota's Cole Smith, who saw University of Denver senior wing Jared Lukosevicius score on a tip-in of a point shot at 4:39 of the 5-minute overtime session Saturday night.

That goal gave the eighth-ranked Pioneers a 2-1 victory over the No. 14 Fighting Hawks and a split of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference series after a 4-1 UND win Friday night.

"It's kind of devastating,'' Smith said, "especially when you lay it on the line like that, come back, push overtime. When that goes in, it's hard to put into emotion right now, It just kind of sucks.''

Smith was stopped by Denver goalie Filip Larsson (32 saves) on the shift the other way in overtime, and just missed on a feed to linemate Mark Senden on the same sequence.

Denver then countered the other way and Lukosevisicius tapped a point shot past the pads of UND rookie goalie Adam Scheel (19 saves) for his team-leading ninth goal of the season and 52nd in 132 career games.

In a game that featured a goaltending battle between rookies Scheel and Larsson, UND finally tied the game at 1-1 at 17:25 of the third period to match a goal by Denver sophomore center Jakko Heikkinen just 1:10 into the game.

With UND putting 25 shots on net over the last two periods to just 14 for Denver, freshman defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker caught a break to even the game. His blast from the top of the faceoff circle hit the stick of DU defenseman Erich Fear, changed direction and zipped by Larsson high on the glove side.

But then in the 5-on-5 overtime, with 21 seconds left before the 3-on-3 OT would start and the loser would be get one point, the winner two, Lukosevicius swung all three points in Denver's column with his timely goal.

UND, with five regulars out through injury, illness or suspension, didn't have enough bodies available to even field a full 21-person roster, a first for UND this season. Instead, UND put out its 17th different lineup in 17 games.

Still, UND (3-5 NCHC, 9-7-1 overall) outshot Denver 33-21, only to be bitten by early and late goals from the Pioneers (4-4 NCHC, 8-4-2 overall).

"Obviously the result not what we wanted,'' UND coach Brad Berry said. "Disappointing in the fact we battled to score a goal. It was up to 30 shots when we got our goal. We found a way to get the tie. But when you get to overtime and the game's on the line, one minute left and they break down and score a goal . . . we left points on the table, and it's very disappointing.''

So save for an exhibition game against the U.S. Under-18 team at home on Dec, 29, the first half of the season came to a close, a first half marred by inconsistent play at times, and a rash of costly injuries. Still, the Fighting Hawks have beaten three top-10 team in the nation in Denver, Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State, giving hope for a strong second half of the season.

"We can be better, and I know we will be,'' Berry said "once we have a full lineup after Christmas.''

Kiersted will return after sitting out a one-game NCHC suspension for a spearing major in Friday's game, and Berry said he thought at least three of the injured or ill players (Dixon Bowen, Jonny Tychonick, Joel Janatuinen and Collin Adams will be back by the time UND resumes second-half play on Jan. 4-5 at Canisius.

The misfortune has enabled UND to build depth going into the second half of the season. "We've have had a lot of guys come into the lineup and play very important roles,'' Bernard-Docker, who scored his fourth goal of the year, said. "Hopefully we can get a lot healthier and get some of our key guys back.''

Notes: Both teams were 0-3 on the power play, UND with 8 shots on on the power play, Denver with just 2 . . . Bernard-Docker led UND in shots on goal with 6, followed by defenseman Gabe Bast with 4 . . . Lukoseviciuis led Denver with 3 shots . . . UND lost the faceoff battle 29-28 with freshman center Jasper Weatherby winning all five draws he took . . . The game drew a sellout of 11,545, 600 more than Friday's game.

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.