ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Fifth-ranked North Dakota kept its winning ways going with a 4-3 victory over St. Cloud State on Friday night from the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud, Minn.
 
UND (11-4-0, 5-2-0 NCHC) has now won seven of its last eight games overall and five straight away from Ralph Engelstad Arena following the victory on Friday night. The Fighting Hawks also extended their unbeaten streak to five (3-0-2) in St. Cloud – the longest streak since Nov. 9, 2002 – Mar. 5, 2005 (3-0-2) and seven overall against the Huskies (5-0-2).
 
The visitors received contributions up-and-down the lineup, with every forward but leading scorer Ben Strinden recording at least a point and no player having a multi-point outing. NoDak also picked up goals from four-different lines, as Cody Croal (4), David Klee (1), Dlyan James (8) and Will Zellers (10) all found the back of the net.
 
Rookie goaltender Jan Špunar kept up his winning ways between the pipes to improve to 7-0-0 by stopping 20-of-23 shots in the victory.
 
UND jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first period, as Tyler Young found Croal alone in the slot for the sophomore's fourth goal of the season and the advantage. SCSU responded just over a minute later, however, tying the game at 1-1 with a shorthanded goal.
 
Klee gave the visitors the lead in the final five minutes of the opening frame, with the freshman sniping home the first of his career off the rush to put UND in front, 2-1, after 20 minutes.
 
The Huskies came out with some jump in the middle frame, knotting the contest at 2-2 just 25 seconds into the period on a slick passing play, but NoDak got better as the period wore on and eventually took the lead back on the power play. Jake Livanavage fired a shot from the point that James deflected past the goaltender for his eighth of the season and a 3-2 lead after two.
 
UND picked up a big insurance marker just beyond the midway point of the third period, as Zellers collected the puck just outside the crease and made a beautiful move to score his team-best 10th of the season and give the Hawks a 4-2 advantage.
 
St. Cloud State pulled within a goal at 4-3, but Špunar and the defense shut the door over the final minutes to secure the regulation victory.
 
North Dakota will aim for a series sweep tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. on NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
 
 
Postgame Notes 

• UND improves to 84-49-19 all-time against St. Cloud State and 33-26-10 in St. Cloud
• The Hawks have won five straight road games and are 6-1-0 on the road this season
• NoDak has also won seven of its last eight games
• UND runs its unbeaten streak to seven (5-0-2) against SCSU and five (3-0-2) in St. Cloud
• The five-game unbeaten streak in St. Cloud is the longest since 2002-05
• Will Zellers scored his team-best 10th goal of the season and has goals in three straight games
• The rookie also has four game-winning goals this season
• Ben Strinden saw his point streak come to an end at four
• Cole Reschny dished out an assist to give him five points over his last three games (0-5-5)
• Reschny also has 13 points (1-12-13) in the last 10 games
• David Klee scored his first-career goal
• Jan Špunar improved to 7-0-0 to begin his career – the longest winning streak to start a career since Jordan Parise in 2003-04
• Špunar finished with 20 saves on 23 shots against
• NoDak is now 3-1-0 this season in games decided by one goal
• UND improves to 9-0-0 when scoring at least four goals this season
• NoDak went 1-for-3 on the power play while SCSU was 0-for-2
• UND has scored a power play goal in three straight games
• The Hawks have also not allowed a power play goal in three straight games
• Dylan James potted a goal to give him six points in his last seven games
• Faceoffs were 35-34 SCSU, with Cade Littler going 5-2 to lead UND at 71.4 percent

How It Happened 

First Period:                                                     
06:26 | UND – Cody Croal (4) from Tyler Young (2) and Jack Kernan (3)
07:41 | SCSU – Barrett Hall (7, SH)
15:23 | UND – David Klee (1) from Cade Littler (4) and Anthony Menghini (1)

Second Period: 
00:25 | SCSU – Tyson Gross (7) from Hall (11) and Max Smolinski (4)
16:15 | UND – Dylan James (8, PP) from Jake Livanavage (10) and Cole Reschny (14)
 
Third Period:
11:08 | UND – Will Zellers (10) from Ollie Josephson (7) and Mac Swanson (8)
13:18 | SCSU – Gavyn Thoreson (4) from Finn Loftus (3)

For more information on North Dakota hockey, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDmhockey.