gophers/ncaa

GRAND FORKS, N.D. - North Dakota's Brock Nelson was stymied on a shorthanded breakaway early in the second period Friday. But he kept his head up, waited for his chance and it came.

The sophomore forward from Warroad, Minn., scored with 3 minutes, 35 seconds left to give UND a 2-1 victory over the Gophers.

The loss was the third in a row for the No. 5 Gophers, all by one goal.

Minnesota Duluth, meantime, extended its unbeaten streak to 17 games with a 6-2 rout at Nebraska Omaha to take sole possession of first place in the WCHA race. The Gophers had led or been tied for the conference lead all season.

"Like all three of the [losses], it was hard-fought," Gophers coach Don Lucia said of the latest. "They made the play tonight late in the game to win it. There wasn't much space on the rink. There wasn't a lot of offensive chances because it became a cautious game."

The Gophers outshot UND 26-25 but were 0-for-4 on the power play, including one that lasted more than four minutes.

"They are a good penalty-killing team, and their goaltender played well," Lucia said. "We didn't have great rhythm on our power play. Some of that is what they did. Some of it was what we did."

Which, in truth, was pretty little on the man advantage.

"I thought the game might be headed to a tie at 1-1," Lucia said. "But [Nelson] was as good as any player on the ice."

Nelson needed to be. Corban Knight, his center on UND's top line, had missed the past two games because of a lower body injury. And Eden Prairie's Danny Kristo, the other wing on that line, late in the first period received a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind and a game disqualification.

"It was definitely a tough loss," Nelson said, referring to Kristo. "Everyone knows what kind of player Danny is and the electricity he brings to our team. Everyone just wanted to step up and we had a big kill right away and were able to get some momentum."

Even so, the Gophers (15-8-1, 11-4) took a 1-0 lead on freshman Kyle Rau's rebound goal in the second period.

Then the unexpected happened. Junior defenseman Andrew MacWilliam, playing in his 102nd game for UND (12-8-2, 8-7), scored the first goal of his career. It was well-timed, too. From the left point with nine seconds to play in the middle period.

"There was a lot of traffic in front," Gophers goalie Kent Patterson said. "I saw it at the last second and it flew over my shoulder."

"It was good to see [MacWilliam] get that," said Nelson, who leads UND in goals this season with 16 and points with 25, one more than Kristo.

The Gophers swept UND 2-0 and 3-2 at home in November. Ever since their first series of the season, North Dakota is 9-2-1 and the Gophers 6-7-1.

"We know we are going to have bumpy roads," Patterson said. "It is just a matter of finishing games. You look at all of our losses. All except one we lost by one goal. It is just a matter of one mistake, one play."