GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The Maine Black Bears received a lesson about penalties Saturday night for the second straight game.

This time the lesson wasn’t quite so harsh as they played to a 3-3 overtime tie against North Dakota.

North Dakota scored all of its goals in the second period on power plays, two of them coming with five-on-three advantages. The Black Bears took five penalties in the second and none in the game’s other 45 minutes, which included the scoreless 5-minute overtime.

“We win the game without all of those penalties,” said Maine center Brian Flynn, who had a goal and an assist. “Discipline is a big issue for us. We have to figure that out if we’re going anywhere this season.”

The penalty problems weren’t as costly for the Black Bears as during Friday night’s game, when undisciplined penalties late in the third period helped the Fighting Sioux to a 3-1 win.

“I was surprised to see us two players down twice in that second period,” Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. “I want to look at the video. Otherwise, we were very disciplined.

“We did a good job of clogging up the neutral zone. UND has a lot of talented players, so we respected that.”

The game was as even as the score indicated. Goalie Aaron Dell had 25 saves for North Dakota (2-1-1) while Dan Sullivan had 24 for Maine (1-2-1).

The Bears took a 2-0 lead in the first minute of the second period when Will O’Neill tapped in Kyle Beattie’s goal-mouth feed. O’Neill set up Brian Flynn for a similar goal four minutes into the game.

But then a flurry of penalties turned the tide.

The rally started with two penalties called simultaneously, giving the Sioux a five-on-three advantage for a full two minutes.

Defenseman Nick Mattson’s wrister from short range cut the lead in half. Then after another Maine penalty, North Dakota scored again with a two-skater advantage on Danny Kristo’s slap shot through heavy traffic.

Kristo added UND’s third power-play goal of the second period for a 3-2 lead.

Maine forced overtime when Ryan Hegarty deflected a shot by Spencer Abbott into the net in the third period.

With five seconds left in overtime, Dell stopped Abbott on a semi-breakaway.

Abbott had three assists and O’Neill and Flynn each had a goal and an assist.

“Getting three out of four points is a successful weekend,” UND Coach Dave Hakstol said. “You never go into a game hoping for a tie, but in reality it meant for a good weekend.”

 

Copy the Story Link