Box Score
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Saint John's hockey outshot St. Scholastica 47-31 on net (80-44 overall) in a 5-2 loss on Friday, Nov. 18, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
SJU (4-2, 2-1-0 MIAC) entered the contest with the country's top power play at 48 percent (12-for-25) but went 0-for-4 Friday night. The Saints (4-3, 3-0-0 MIAC), meanwhile, took the ice at 4.8 percent (1-for-21) and finished 2-for-4 on the man advantage.
Senior forward
Nick Michel (Waconia, Minn.), the reigning MIAC Men's Hockey Offensive Player of the Week, gave SJU a 1-0 lead with his team-leading sixth goal of the season 14:25 into the game. Junior forward
Lewis Crosby (Edina, Minn.) won an offensive-zone faceoff back to Michel, who beat the CSS goaltender with a shot along the ice.
The Saints tied the game on a goal from Filimon Ledenkov, his first of three on the evening, with 55 seconds left in the opening frame. His twin brother, Arkhip, sent a shot wide of the net, but the rebound bounced off the end boards to Filimon in front for the game-tying goal.
Junior forward
Max Borst (Edina, Minn.) gave SJU a short-lived lead, 2-1, with a shorthanded goal 2:07 into the second period. Crosby stole the puck in the offensive end and unleashed a shot on net, and Borst cleaned up the rebound.
CSS, however, scored a power-play goal 37 seconds later and added two more goals, including another on the man advantage, in the period's final two minutes to take a 4-2 lead into intermission. Filimon Ledenkov took advantage of an SJU turnover at its own blue line with 1:57 left in the second period and SJU was penalized on the scoring play, which led to a power-play goal from Tyler Hinterser 1:21 later.
Filimon Ledenkov completed the hat trick on an empty-net goal with 1:15 remaining in regulation. SJU posted a 22-7 shot advantage in the third period but could not capitalize.
Freshman goaltender
Jon Howe (Chanhassen, Minn.) made 26 saves in the loss.
The two teams conclude the weekend series at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at Mars Lakeview Arena in Duluth.