Bemidji State misses second period chances in 5-2 loss to Minnesota State University, Mankato, photo gallery

Minnesota State University, Mankato's Eriah Hayes beats Bemidji State goalie Andrew Walsh for Mankato's first goal during the second period of Saturday night's game. Pioneer Photo/Eric Stromgren.

Minnesota State University, Mankato defeated the Bemidji State men’s hockey team 5-2 Saturday night in front of 4,344 fans at the Sanford Center to split the weekend series.

The Beavers were unable to score on three power plays in the second period and were unable to recover from a 3-2 deficit after two periods.

“It’s not very fun losing, no matter what game it is, but this one hurts because we were on such a high from last night,” BSU defenseman Brad Hunt said. “We’re trying to move up in the standings and it’s not good to take a step backwards. That’s what we felt like we did.”

Michael Dorr scored two goals and had an assist for the Mavericks. Park Rapids native Zach Lehrke scored the game-winning goal with five minutes left in the second period and had an assist.

David Boehm and Radoslav Illo scored both Bemidji State goals in the second period.

“I thought we couldn’t get any sustained pressure, last night we had good low play and tonight we just couldn’t get into it,” BSU head coach Tom Serratore said. “We might get one shift but we couldn’t get back to back shifts, and when you can’t get back-to-back shifts it’s hard to get any momentum.”

Andrew Walsh had 20 saves in goal and suffered his first loss at home in six starts this season. BSU goalie Dan Bakala, who started in Friday’s 2-1 win over the Mavericks, did not dress due to a lower body injury.

Eriah Hayes and Michael Louwerse scored for Mankato, and goalie Phil Cook had 29 saves for the Mavericks (9-18-1, 5-14-1 WCHA).

Bemidji State (12-12-2, 6-10-2 WCHA) has lost three of its last four games and go on the road next weekend to face Nebraska-Omaha on Friday and Saturday night.

Saturday’s game broke open in the second period where both teams combined for five goals.

Mankato’s Hayes started scoring when he took a long, cross-ice pass and chipped the puck over Walsh 1:50 into the period.

The Beavers tied the score seven minutes later when Boehm broke loose on a breakaway and beat Cook for a short-handed goal. He scored his second of the season while Sam Windle was serving a roughing penalty.

“Benny (Kinne) made a good play breaking up the play at the blue line on their counter attack,” Boehm said. “I was just coming into the zone and usually when Benny gets it, he knows I’m cutting across the ice so as soon as he got it, I went right across and he made a perfect pass.”

The Mavericks scored the next two goals to take a 3-1 lead. Dorr scored four seconds after Windle’s penalty expired. Lehrke scored with five minutes remaining when he and Johnny McInnis took advantage of a BSU defensive breakdown in front of the net.

Illo cut the lead MSU to 3-2 by finishing off a fortunate bounce when Boehm’s wrist shot deflected off one post and popped out to the other side of the net. Illo put back the shot with 3:39 remaining.

Missed power play opportunities in the second period hurt the Beavers. BSU managed five shots on the three second period power plays and were 0-for-5 in the loss.

Serratore said the power play unit was flat-footed and unable to generate enough puck movement.

“It’s all effort-based and we just weren’t getting on pucks like we should’ve,” Hunt said. “We had a couple of opportunities and we’ve just got to bury them when we get our chances. We just need to keep working hard, and hopefully we’ll start getting the bounces and they’ll start going in the back of the net for us.”

Mankato scored the insurance goal when Dorr ended a 3-on-1 break by scoring on Lehrke’s pass across the top of the crease late in the third period. The goal put the Mavericks up 4-2 with 2:22 left and Louwerse scored an empty-net, power-play goal with 1:09 remaining.

The third period was a struggle for Bemidji State as Mankato blocked six shots and clogged passing lanes.

“Anytime you’re on the road in a Saturday night game, it’s always a difficult game in this league,” MSU coach Troy Jutting said. “I think they (BSU) did a good job of bottling us up. I thought we did a good job of battling through it, and the second period allowed us to have the third period. We scored the goals in the second period, but I thought we played better in the third period.”

Scoring Summary

MSUM 0 3 2 – 5
BSU 0 2 0 – 2
First period – No scoring.
Second period – 1, MSU 10 Hayes (Leitner, LaFontaine), 1:50. 2, BSU Boehm 2 (Kinne, Areshenko), 8:55, (sh). 3, MSU, Dorr 5 (Louwerse, Mueller), 10:14. 4, MSU Lehrke 10 (McInnis, Dorr), 15:00. 5, BSU Illo 6 (Boehm), 16:21.
Third period – 6, MSU Dorr 6(Lehrke, Hayes), 17:38. 7, MSU Louwerse 1 (unassisted), 18:51, (en), (pp).
Shots on goal – MSU, 9-9-7-25. BSU, 9-14-8-31.
Goalies – MSU, Cook (31-29). BSU, Walsh (25-20).
Power plays – MSU, 1-for-4. BSU, 0-for-5.
A- 4,344.