Huskies Fall At Minnesota State Saturday

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• HIGHLIGHTS
• COACH PEARSON INTERVIEW

MANKATO, Minn. – No. 2 Minnesota State handed No. 3 Michigan Tech its first WCHA road loss of the season and snapped the Huskies' nine-game unbeaten streak. The Mavericks won 4-2 Saturday (Feb. 28) night from the Verizon Wireless Center to take a three-point lead in the conference standings with two games to go.

The Huskies fell to 24-8-2 overall and 19-5-2 in the WCHA.

"It was a good game tonight," Tech coach Mel Pearson said. "They're the type of team you're going to have to beat to win a championship. They have a good group of seniors and they know what it takes to win."

The two teams scored three goals in the final five minutes of the first period. David Johnstone opened the game's scoring at the 15:41 mark. Tanner Kero created a turnover in the neutral zone and Johnstone picked up the puck. He carried it into the zone and sniped his fourth goal of the year to give the visitors their first lead of the series.

Only 15 seconds later, the Mavericks evened it up with a goal off the stick of Dylan Margonari. Brad McClure and Zach Palmquist picked up the assists.

MSU (24-6-3, 20-3-3 WCHA) took its first lead with a wrist shot from the blue line taken by Jon Jutzi with only four seconds left in the first period.

After getting outshot 14-7 in the opening period, the Huskies came out for the second and generated some quality scoring chances. Tanner Kero had a pair of shots saved by Maverick goaltender Stephon Williams. Patrick Anderson and Tyler Heinonen created a 2-on-1 that was saved after an Anderson shot minutes later.

Chris Leibinger finally broke through for the Huskies, as he buried his goal on a breakaway after stepping out of the penalty box 4:55 in. Michael Neville found Leibinger up the middle with a pass through the neutral zone and the sophomore defenseman buried his third of the year. Cliff Watson added the secondary assist.

The two teams found some open ice in the second half of the middle frame. David Johnstone had a partial breakaway but couldn't get a clean shot after battling a bouncing puck. Bryce Gervais had a breakaway of his own 5:00 later but ripped his shot high.

MSU took the lead for a good on a shot form the top of the circles by Carter Foguth with just over 8:00 left in the second.

The Huskies had a couple chances in the third period, including its only power play of the game. Malcolm Gould's one-timer was gloved down 3:00 in. A quick shot by Johnstone out front and a rush to the net by Sturos wre also steered away.

Gervais made it a two-goal game with a power play goal at the 8:40 mark.

MSU outshot the Huskies 31-20 in the game. Jamie Phillips finished with 27 saves while Williams had 18.

The Black and Gold were whistled for four penalties while the home team had two.

Tech returns home for its final regular season home game on Friday (March 6) against Northern Michigan. Seniors Jimmy Davis, Blake Hietala, David Johnstone, Tanner Kero, Blake Pietila, and Riley Sweeney will be honored after the game. The Wildcats and Huskies will play in Marquette on Saturday (March 7) to wrap up the regular season.

"It's going to be a great series next weekend," said Pearson. "We need to send our seniors out on the right note. They've done so much for our program and have put us in the national spotlight this year. They deserve a great send off."

GAME NOTES: Tech finished 0-1-3 against MSU this season…The four games were decided by a combined four goals…Johnstone (36-60=96) is four points away from 100 for his career…Leibinger has nine career goals…Saturday's crowd of 5,446 was the largest ever at the Verizon Wireless Center.