BOWLING GREEN — Minnesota State clearly has been the best team in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association this season, and the Mavericks certainly looked the part on Friday at Slater Family Ice Arena.
The No. 3 Mavericks used to their top-ranked special teams to their advantage, then broke open the game with three even-strength goals in the final 10 minutes of the second period to race past No. 15 Bowling Green 6-3.
The Falcons (13-10-2) went on the power play with just more than four minutes to play in the second period with a chance to tie the game at three, and the game instead swung the other way.
Minnesota State (21-3-1) stonewalled the BG power play — the Falcons went 0-for-5 with man-advantage against MSU’s penalty kill — after which the Mavericks scored twice in the next 56 seconds. Julian Napravnik departed the penalty box and immediately found himself with the puck and a scoring chance, which he converted for a 4-2 Minnesota State advantage.
On the next shift, Minnesota State defenseman Nick Rivera buried a rebound along the goal line to give the Mavericks a 5-2 edge.
“It was a nothing play, but once you give them a three-on-two, it ends up in the back of your net,” Falcons coach Ty Eigner said. “They can take advantage of the smallest opportunity, and maybe another team that isn't as talented — you can get away with that against somebody else. You can't get against them, so your margin for error isn't great.”
The game spiraled quickly out of reach for the Falcons, who up until that point had matched Minnesota State with both teams at even strength.
The Mavericks took the lead in the first with Charlie Gerard's power play goal, though the Falcons responded later in the period with Adam Conquest's first goal off the season, a five-hole tally off a freeing pass from Brandon Kruse.
“I finally got the monkey off my back,” Conquest said of his first goal in his 12th game. “I had meetings with coach, and I just kind of looked myself in the mirror. I wasn't producing as much as I thought I could. I just thougt I might as well work my tail off, and it's worked out for me, so I've just got to keep going.”
In the second, the two sides traded goals eight seconds apart, which included Conquest's second goal, before Minnesota State took a lead it would not lose when Josh French pounced on a rebound for a 3-2 lead just past the midway point of the period.
The Falcons found themselves chasing for the majority of the night.
“They lead the country in goals against, so if they score five, it's going to be really tough to beat them,” Eigner said. “... If they get out front of you, they're difficult to catch, that's for sure.”
In the third, Sam Craggs redirected a Taylor Schneider shot from the point for a goal at 11:03 to cut BG's deficit to two, but the Mavericks officially ended all hopes of a BG comeback with Rivera's empty-net goal.
The Falcons are now 17 points back of Minnesota State in the WCHA with 11 games to play for the top spot in the conference and home ice throughout the WCHA playoffs.
BG and Minnesota State will conclude the series with a 7:07 p.m. puck drop Saturday.
“We've just got to play a full 60-minute game to beat a team like Minnesota State,” Conquest said. “We've got to regroup and go back at it [Saturday].”
First Published January 18, 2020, 3:23 a.m.
