ST. CLOUD, MN – The Bruins comeback bid late in the 3rd period falls short, as the Norsemen hold on to win their 11th straight game.
Friday Night marked the third of four straight games against the Norsemen, who came into the night holding on to a 1-point lead of the Central Division. Jackson Hughes would get the night going for the Norsemen as he would get his 3rd of the season of a pass from Hunter Hanson to make it a 1-0 lead for St. Cloud. Nick Catalano would light the lamp for the Bruins on an awkward angle shot from below the near side circles to tie the game up a 1-1 with less than two minutes to play in the period. St. Cloud would add one more on a Power Play snipe by Brandon Lajoie to give the Norsemen a 2-1 lead to the locker room after the 1st period of play.
Not missing a beat, Hunter Hanson would get one of his own 4:43 into the 2nd period to make it a two-goal lead for St. Cloud. Blake Mesenburg, while short-handed, would get his 16th goal of the season to make it a then 4-1 lead for the Norsemen. Catalano would get one right back though while on the closing seconds of a Chad Thomas Thrivent Finacial Powerplay to make it 4-2 after 40 minutes of action.
It would be `11:54 into the 3rd period until we would see another goal, this time from Anthony Menghini who would sneak the puck past the right leg pad of Tomas Bolo to pull the Bruins back within one goal. Nik Hong, however, would whistle a shot past Klayton Knapp to give the Norsemen back a two-goal lead. While on the Power Play, the Bruins would pull Knapp to make it a 6-on-4 opportunity and would capitalize as Michal Jasenec would collect his 7th of the season to make it 5-4. St. Cloud would then shut down the Bruins in the closing minute of the 3rd to complete their 11th straight win. Knapp would stop 29 of the 34 shots he would face on the night.
Both teams are back at it tomorrow night at Riverside Arena with puck drop set for 7:05 PM CST.
