BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — With a shutout win on Friday and a shootout loss on Saturday, the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team earned four points in CCHA play on the road this weekend against the Bowling Green State Falcons.

Alternate captain Isaac Gordon broke his scoreless drought in Saturday’s contest as the Huskies improved to 7-4-1 overall and 5-2-1 in conference play.

HUSKIES SHUT DOWN

FALCONS FRIDAY

The Huskies shutout the Falcons, 3-0, Friday at the Slater Family Ice Arena.

“Everybody on the team contributed to an important road win,” Huskies coach Joe Shawhan said. “Derek (Mullahy) was outstanding and made some really big saves. That was the best game we’ve seen out of Viktor (Hurtig) and the whole ‘D’ (defensive) corp was solid.

“I’m happy for the guys and proud of the guys. We can always clean some things up, but we had a great effort in a tough building to play.”

Mullahy earned his second shutout of the season and the third of his career with 28 saves. He had a huge breakaway save early in the game and then stoned another Falcon 3:00 into the third period. Mullahy made six saves in the first, 10 in the second, and 12 in the third to improve to 4-3 on the season.

Freshman forward Logan Morrell buried his second of the season 3:37 into the first on the power play, putting in a rebound in front of the net to get the Huskies on the board. Junior forward Stiven Sardarian’s shot was saved, and junior winger Trevor Kukkonen got a whack at it before Morrell put it in.

Junior defenseman Matthew Campbell made it 2-0 with 2:31 left in the first period, scoring his first of the season. He blasted in a sharp-angled one-timer on the power play from Sardarian and Morrell for his fifth career goal.

Late in the second period, Hurtig scored his first in the Black and Gold to give Tech a 3-0 lead. He jumped the play and tipped in a shot by freshman forward Elias Jansson with 2:29 remaining before intermission. Gordon started the rush in the defensive zone and earned the second assist.

The Huskies led in shots 30-28. Cole Moore made 27 saves for the Falcons.

Tech was 2-for-4 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.

HUSKIES COME BACK

TO EARN TIE SATURDAY

The Huskies and Falcons skated to a 2-2 tie on Saturday. The Falcons earned the extra CCHA point with a shootout win after overtime.

“I’m very proud of our guys. We played a pretty good game throughout,” Shawhan said. “They got some opportunistic goals with one on a bad bounce. Every point we can get adds up big time in the league standings. It would be a lot of fun to play a seven-game series between these two good hockey teams.”

The Huskies scored twice in a span of 22 seconds in the third period to battle back from a two-goal deficit. Sardarian drew the Huskies to within one when he carried the puck all the way around the offensive zone and fired in his seventh of the season 6:52 into the third. Freshman defenseman Rylan Brown and sophomore center Max Koskipirtti assisted.

Gordon quickly tied it at 7:14 with his first of the season. Jansson swooped in behind a Bowling Green player who was carrying the puck and stole it away. He patiently made a move to create a 2-on-1 and then slid it over to Gordon for a quick wrister and a tie game.

Junior defenseman Kasper Vaharautio drew a five-minute major penalty with 6:43 left in the third, but the Huskies couldn’t find the back of the net as Cole Morris — who came in relief after the two Tech goals — stood tall.

Both teams had three shots on goal in the 3-on-3 overtime. Captain Jack Works had a late chance that got under the goaltender but didn’t cross the line.

In the shootout, Brody Waters and Brett Pfoh scored on their attempts for the home team. Brown and Sardarian had their chances saved.

BGSU (5-5-2, 2-2-2 CCHA) scored a pair of power play goals in the second period to take the lead. Dalton Norris scored the first goal of the weekend for the Falcons at 4:16 of the second.

Maxwell Martin added to the lead when he popped in a loose puck after a dump-in hit the Zamboni door and caromed out front.

Tech dominated the game in shots 57-33. It was the second time in the last three games that the Huskies generated over 50 shots in Ohio. Christian Stover made the start for the Falcons and had 43 saves before leaving in the third with an injury. Cole Moore had 12 saves in the 17:46 of action. Mullahy stopped 31 shots for the Huskies.

The Huskies were 0-for-4 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

UP NEXT

The Huskies return home next weekend for the final time in 2024, hosting St. Thomas at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena.