DULUTH, Minn. – For the second straight game, No. 3 North Dakota rallied back from a two-goal deficit but couldn't quite complete the comeback on Friday night, as No. 10 Minnesota Duluth tallied a 3-2 overtime win from AMSOIL Arena in Duluth, Minn.
 
Despite the loss, North Dakota (20-7-0, 12-5-0 NCHC) remains in the top spot of the NCHC standings with 39 points and has earned at least one point in 11 straight meetings against Minnesota Duluth (18-11-0, 9-10-0 NCHC) dating back to 2019.
 
Trailing 2-0 heading into the third period, UND rallied back with a pair of goals from Ellis Rickwood (7) and Jack Kernan (7) to send the game into the overtime. The Fighting Hawks had a great chance to win it in the extra session with a 4-on-3 man advantage, but the Bulldogs killed the penalty and notched the winner with just 6.2 seconds remaining to earn the extra point.
 
Freshman goaltender Jan Špunar finished with 29 saves on 32 shots against in the losing effort, dropping to 13-3-0 on the season.
 
It was a slow start for UND over the first 20 minutes, as Minnesota Duluth took advantage of some penalty trouble for the visitors. NoDak killed off three UMD power plays in the first period and despite being doubled up in shots, skated to the locker room still scoreless after one.
 
That didn't last long in the second period, however, as the Bulldogs jumped out to a 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the middle frame on a goal from Hunter Anderson before Zam Plante added a power play goal late in the stanza to make it 2-0 after 40 minutes.
 
Penalties looked to be costing UND at a chance for a comeback in the third period, but Rickwood buried a slick feed from Mac Swanson for the shorthanded goal just beyond the halfway point of the final frame to pull the visitors within a goal.
 
UND kept up the pressure and eventually knotted the game at 2-2 with the goaltender pulled. Ben Strinden wired a shot from the top of the circle and Kernan was able to pounce on a loose rebound in front of the net to pull the game even and give the Hawks their third goal this season with an extra attacker.
 
The Hawks nearly won it in overtime while on the man advantage, including a shot off the pipe from Abram Wiebe, but the Bulldogs found the winner just before the final buzzer to earn the extra point and a 3-2 win.
 
North Dakota will look to earn a series win with a regulation win on Saturday night at 6:07 p.m. on Midco Sports, NCHC.tv and the Fighting Hawks Radio Network.
 
Postgame Notes 

• UND falls to 162-93-11 all-time against Minnesota Duluth and 69-47-6 in Duluth
• The loss snapped a seven-game winning streak for UND at AMSOIL Arena dating back to 2020
• The Hawks have earned at least a point against Minnesota Duluth in 11 straight games
• NoDak dropped to 10-3-0 this season on the road, with two of those losses coming in overtime
• UND improves to plus-28 in the third period and holds a 31-8 scoring mark in NCHC games over the final 20
• Ellis Rickwood scored his seventh goal of the season and has 17 (6G, 11A) points over his last 11 games
• Rickwood also has seven points (2G, 5A) over his last three games
• Jack Kernan scored his seventh goal of the season and has five goals over his last nine games
• Mac Swanson notched an assist to give him seven points (2G, 5A) in seven games against UMD
• NoDak scored its sixth shorthanded goal of the season – the most since the 2016-17 season also had six
• Jake Livanavage tallied his 80th career point to become only the third UND blueliner since 2000-01 with 80
• UND falls to 1-3-0 this season in overtime
• NoDak went 0-for-3 on the power play while UMD was 1-for-5
• UND scored its third goal this season with the goaltender pulled
• Shots were 32-24 in favor of Minnesota Duluth
• Faceoffs were 40-24 in favor of UND, with Ollie Josephson leading everyone at 16-2

How It Happened 

First Period:                                                     
No scoring

Second Period: 
03:06 | UMD – Hunter Anderson (3) from Daniel Shlaine (5)
17:30 | UMD – Zam Plante (12, PP) from Jayson Shaugabay (27) and Ty Hanson (20)

Third Period:
10:25 | UND – Ellis Rickwood (7, SH) from Mac Swanson (14) and Abram Wiebe (13)
18:29 | UND – Jack Kernan (7, EA) from Ben Strinden (13) and Jake Livanavage (19)

Overtime:
04:53 | UMD – Plante (13) from Grayden Siepmann (7)

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