MANKATO — Sometimes, you run into a hot goalie.
The Minnesota State men’s hockey team generated plenty of scoring chances down the stretch Saturday night, but St. Thomas goaltender Aaron Trotter was always be up to the task.
“He’s a really good goalie. Last night he had a lot of really good saves, and I think we’ve had a lot of shots both nights,” MSU forward Brian Carrabes said. “Hats off to him, but I think we’ve got to do a couple things better. I think there’s a couple opportunities we’d like to have back.”
The Mavericks made a strong push in the second half of the game, but couldn’t overcome Trotter and an early deficit in a 4-2 CCHA loss to the Tommies. The game was played in front of 4,973 fans at the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center.
MSU won Game 1 of the series 4-3 in overtime Friday. The Tommies are now in first place in the CCHA standings with 34 points, while MSU is second at 32 points.
The Mavericks came out a bit flat, with St. Thomas scoring at 1:16 and 8:44 of the first period, taking the sold-out crowd out of the game. The second St. Thomas goal came off an untimely MSU turnover.
“I think they’ve got a dangerous, opportunistic group,” MSU coach Luke Strand said of St. Thomas. “We put things on their tape, they took advantage.”
It appeared MSU had scored midway through the first period, but Tyler Haskins’ tip-in was immediately waved off on the ice for what the official described as “contact with the goaltender.” Strand challenged the ruling, but the call was upheld.
“I don’t think (Haskins) runs into the goalie,” Strand said. “The goalie’s foot is outside the crease.”
Carrabes got MSU on the scoreboard with a power-play goal at 13:26 of the first period, a score that held into the first intermission. Luc Wilson and Kaden Bohlsen got assists on the goal.
The Tommies made it 3-1 early in the second period at 2:03, but MSU’s Josh Groll answered. Groll banged home Tony Malinowski’s rebound at 10:20 of the second, which changed momentum in the game.
The Mavericks dominated for large stretches after Groll scored, but Trotter kept them off the board.
Sam Morton was denied on two point-blank looks — one in the second period and one in the third. In the second, Morton beat Trotter with a deke to his backhand, but the UST goalie stretched out to glove Morton’s shot just before it crossed the goal line.
Late in the third with the goaltender pulled, Trotter dove across the crease to rob Adam Eisele with a pad save. Eisele also hit the post late in the third.
“He was making big stops,” Strand said of Trotter. “I thought he was timely.”
St. Thomas added an empty-net goal with 24 seconds remaining to secure the win.
Shots on goal favored MSU 35-21. Alex Tracy made 17 saves.
The Mavericks (14-10-4, 10-6-2 in CCHA) play at Michigan Tech at 6:07 p.m. Friday.
Follow Kevin Dudley on X @Dudley7Kevin.