HOUGHTON, MICH. — You could feel the outburst coming.
Despite trailing by a goal early in the third period, the No. 17 Minnesota State men’s hockey team was controlling play and getting the chances. The Mavericks just needed one to go in.
MSU scored four goals in the second half of the third period to secure a 5-2 CCHA win over No. 20 Michigan Tech at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena Friday night.
The scoring blitz started with a shorthanded goal from Luigi Benincasa at 10:12 of the third. Josh Groll’s wraparound attempt ended up on Benincasa’s stick, and he was able to tap it home.
Benincasa then scored the game-winner at 13:54 on another rebound, and Rhett Pitlick secured the win with an empty-net goal at 18:25. Jordan Power scored MSU’s fifth goal with five seconds remaining.
“I thought all game we played a pretty connected and good game together,” MSU coach Luke Strand said. “I was happy for the guys not to do what we’ve done a little bit and go rogue when it isn’t going our way in terms of scoring.”
Shots on goal favored the Mavericks 27-23. Alex Tracy made 21 saves to get his ninth win of the season.
The Mavericks (9-4-2, 4-1-2 in CCHA) finish their series with the Huskies at 5:07 p.m. Saturday.
Coming off a frustrating 1-1 tie with Northern Michigan, this was the response Strand was looking for against a ranked team.
“To win on the road for the Pairwise (rankings) — obviously that’s got the extra tick,” Strand said. “It’s only as good as night two now. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us against a really good team.”