MANKATO — For one period, the Minnesota State men’s hockey team looked like it was about to take a great leap forward in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings.

The Mavericks got a pretty short-handed goal by Jon Kalinski, saw goalie Mike Zacharias stop 12 shots and built a two-goal lead.

But somewhere along the way, the Mavericks had the life sucked out of them, and Michigan Tech came back to force a 2-2 overtime tie before 3,811 at Midwest Wireless Civic Center.

“We came out strong,” Kalinski said. “The team was great. We outworked them in every part of that first period. We just dropped the ball, I guess.”

The Mavericks started the game two points behind Michigan Tech in the WCHA standings and remained there afterward, getting outshot

39-16, including 14-5 in the third period and 2-0 in overtime.

Mike Zacharias made 37 saves. The Huskies tied the game on Jimmy Kerr’s 5-on-3 power-play goal at 7:40 of the third period.

“Usually, we just keep going and try to bury them until the third period,” Kalinski said.

But the defensive-minded Huskies stood up the Mavericks’ speedy forwards, allowing hardly any close-range shots to hit goalie Michael-Lee Teslak, who finished with 14 saves.

“Give (Michigan Tech) credit,” Mavericks coach Troy Jutting said. “They did a nice job of staying up tight on us. But we need to do a better job forcing the issue.”

The Mavericks grabbed its early lead, starting with a power-play goal by Travis Morin at 5:10 of the first period.

Kalinski, who also assisted on Morin’s goal, then tied a school record with his fourth short-handed goal of the season at 14:12.

Showing his knack for creating offense on the penalty kill, Kalinski charged Tech’s Lars Helminen at the point and poked the puck off the defenseman’s stick. As the puck slid down the middle of the ice, Teslak came out of his crease to play the puck. But Kalinski beat the goalie to the spot, moved around him and fired into the open net.

The Mavericks were on the penalty kill seven times, including Trevor Bruess’ five-minute major for checking from behind late in the first period. They escaped Bruess’ penalty unscathed, but 10 seconds after it ended Tyler Shelast scored to make it 2-1 at 1:18 of the second period.

“We just never got it back after that,” Jutting said.

The Mavericks killed off five penalties to up their streak to 32 straight. But Zach Harrison was called for cross-checking, and Brian Kilburg got two minutes for tripping, plus a 10-minute misconduct, and Kerr’s goal ended the streak.

Minnesota State had nine penalties for 37 minutes; Michigan Tech had three penalties for six minutes.

“Killing off penalties tonight wore us down, no question,” Jutting said. “But we have to be able to do that and come back and come out and get after it.”

With the regular season winding down, both teams are desperate to get points to try to separate themselves from each other.

“It was nice to come back,” said Tech’s Helminen, brother of MSU women’s hockey player Jodi Helminen. “But it would be nice to have a better start.”

The Mavericks (9-15-5, 6-11-4 in WCHA) and the Huskies will play again at 7:07 p.m. today.



Michigan Tech 0-1-1-0—2

Minnesota State 2-0-0-0—2



FIRST PERIOD

Scoring: 1. MSU-Morin 14 (Berge 6, Kalinski 7) ppg 5:10; 2. MSU-Kalinski 13 (unassisted) shg 14:12

Penalties: Gagne, MSU (interference) 4:01; Kilburg, MSU (holding) 13:35; Bruess, MSU, five-minute major/game misconduct (checking from behind) 16:08

SECOND PERIOD

Scoring: 3. MTU-Shelast 11 (Dobson 4, Rouleau 16) 1:18

Penalties: MSU bench (too many men) 4:17; Kilburg, MSU (cross-checking) 10:09; Kalinski, MSU (tripping) 14:56; Gagne, MTU (tripping) 17:46

THIRD PERIOD

Scoring: 4. MTU-Kerr 7 (Rouleau 16, Helminen 12) ppg 7:40

Penalties: Kerr, MTU (unsportsmanlike conduct) 3:41; Harrison, MSU (cross-checking) 6:43; Kilburg, MSU (tripping) 7:31; Kilburg, MSU (10-minute misconduct) 7:31

OVERTIME

Scoring: None.

Penalties: None.

SUMMARIES

Shots on goal: MTU 12-11-14-2--39; MSU 6-5-5-0--16. Penalties: MTU 0 for 0 minutes; MSU 0 for 0 minutes. Power-play opportunities: MTU 1 for 7; MSU 1 for 3. Goalie saves: MTU Teslak 4-5-5-0--14; MSU Zacharias 12-10-13-2--37.

Referees: Todd Anderson. Assistant referees: C.J. Beaurline, Jerome Krieger.

Attendance: 3,811