GRAND FORKS, N.D. (UND Athletics)– University of North Dakota head hockey coach Brad Berry was quick to reference Groundhog Day in his postgame press conference on Saturday night, as the Fighting Hawks received a similar script in a 4-2 victory over Lindenwood at Ralph Engelstad Arena in Grand Forks, N.D.
Once again falling behind by a pair of goals early, UND (9-8-4) rallied from behind for the second straight night and it was junior defenseman Tyler Kleven scoring twice, including the game-winning goal, to cap off the first sweep for the hosts since the opening weekend against Holy Cross back on Oct. 7-8.
Just a day removed from his first-career game with multiple goals, Kleven knotted the game at 2-2 in the second period before breaking the deadlock with another late strike on the power play with 8:04 to play in the final stanza to close his weekend with four goals and a pair of game winners.
After Lindenwood (5-15-0) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on 12 shots at the end of 20 minutes, North Dakota once again took over the contest. The NoDak defense held the Lions to just 13 shots and off the scoreboard over the final 40 minutes to complete its sixth multi-goal comeback of the season.
Ben Strinden got the hosts on the board just 1:48 into the middle stanza, pouncing on a loose puck in the slot and firing it past goaltender Trent Burnham for his second goal of the season and cutting the deficit to 2-1. Kleven brought the score level less than five minutes later after Nick Portz found the junior with a great pass and the defenseman buried his own rebound to send the teams to the locker room deadlocked at 2-2.
Following a great shift by Owen McLaughlin that drew a power play, the freshman nearly had his first goal in a NoDak uniform when his shot caromed off the post and right to Kleven to pot his second of the night, third on the power play and fourth of the weekend to give the Hawks their first lead of the night, 3-2, with 8:04 to play.
Mark Senden put the game on ice with his fifth goal of the season in the final two minutes to secure the weekend sweep.
North Dakota returns to NCHC play next weekend against Western Michigan from the Ralph on Friday and Saturday night.
Postgame Notes
- Tyler Kleven tallied his second multi-goal game of his career and now has points in seven of his last 10
- UND finished with a 43-25 shot advantage, finishing with 40-plus shots in both games this weekend
- Jakob Hellsten stopped 23-of-25 shots to earn his first win since Nov. 26 vs. Bemidji State
- Ethan Frisch also dished out a pair of assists for the second straight night, giving him a four-point weekend
- UND has now rallied from six multi-goal deficits this season and has won three of those games
- Jackson Blake saw his 11-game point streak come to an end
- Strinden now has two multi-point games this season, both coming in wins (Nov. 18 vs. Miami)
- Kleven extended his point streak to a career-long four games
- The Hawks are over the .500 mark for the first time since Nov. 5
- Kleven moves up to second all-time among defenseman at North Dakota with 7-career GWG
- NoDak now has 26 goals on the power play this season, the second most in the NCAA
- UND went 30-24 in the dot, with Jake Schmaltz leading the way at 12-8
- The Hawks improve to 8-0-1 this season when scoring 4-or-more goals
- Kleven, Strinden and Frisch were named the game’s three stars
How It Happened First Period 8:48 | LU – David Gagnon opened the scoring on a shot from the point to make it 1-0 Lions
12:47 | LU – Caige Sterzer makes it 2-0 Lindenwood on another faceoff win in the offensive zone
Ben Strinden pots his second of the season on a wrister from the slot to cut it to 2-1
Second Period 1:48 | UND –6:11 | UND – Tyler Kleven is originally stopped but scores on his own rebound to tie the game at 2-2
Third Period 11:56 | UND – Kleven scores his second of the night on the power play to give UND its first lead of the game
18:11 | UND – Mark Senden seals the sweep with a shot under blocker of Burnham for the 4-2 advantage