Northern Michigan University's Josh Zinger skates with the puck during the Wildcats' game at Michigan Tech on Saturday at the John MacInnes Student Ice Arena in Houghton. (Houghton Daily Mining Gazette photo by David Archambeau)

HOUGHTON — With two goals from assistant captain Ryland Mosley, the No. 18 Michigan Tech hockey team won what coach Joe Shawhan referred to as their best 60-minute game of the season on Saturday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.

Returning home after taking a tough overtime loss in Marquette the night before, the Huskies posted a 3-1 win over Northern Michigan in the rematch.

It was not a perfect game by any means, as the Huskies went just 1 for 7 on the man advantage that included a four-minute 5-on-3; however, the one power play goal they got from Mosley was key to holding onto their lead in the third period.

The Huskies (10-4-3 overall, 6-3-3 CCHA) had trouble penetrating the slot on power plays throughout the night, but they were able to get some pucks through from the perimeter.

On the key power play in the third, freshman defenseman Evan Orr could have passed the puck back to co-captain Brett Thorne at the top of the right circle. Instead, Orr quickly moved the puck over to Mosley in the left circle, who turned, moved slightly, and wired a wrist shot over Wildcats goaltender Beni Halasz’s shoulder at 10:44.

Mosley’s previous goal broke a 1-1 tie when he struck from a similar spot at 13:29. Freshman defenseman Topi Heiskanen had gotten the puck over to Mosley in the left circle before he fired a wrister over Halasz’s shoulder.

The third-year winger has spent a lot of time working to improve how he shoots the puck, and he attributes a lot of his success this season to the coaching staff.

“I work with (Tyler Shelast) and Jordy (Murray) a lot with the shooting and stuff, changing the angle,” Mosley said. “I got two nice goals tonight.”

With a two-goal lead for the second half of the third, Tech, which had given up late goals the last two games to tie them, worked hard to fight for pucks and keep the Wildcats’ forwards from being able to find the slot themselves more often than not.

Shawhan was proud of the effort his team put in, especially in the final 20 minutes.

“It was a good third period for us,” he said. “I don’t know how they would feel about their third period, but it was a good third period for us, got some penalty kill in there. We did well on special teams. We got some goaltending.”

The Huskies had taken a 1-0 lead 5:16 into the second period. After failing to strike on the lengthy 5-on-3 power play, Shawhan put the line of junior center Nick Nardella, sophomore winger Levi Stauber and junior winger Tyrone Bronte on the ice.

Stauber and Nardella crashed the corner to Halasz’s left, trying to create a loose puck. As the puck came loose and Nardella put it out into the slot, Bronte jumped into the slot with speed and quickly fired a shot that caught Halasz before he could get set.

“I just found myself in the middle, and the puck kind of creeping towards me,” he said. “I know Nadella and Stauber did a great job on the forecheck, so the puck came right out to me. I just essentially closed my eyes and hit it as hard as I could.”

Shawhan was very excited to get the effort he got from his fourth line, whether they scored or not. He was also impressed with the effort of sophomore winger Marcus Pedersen, whom he subbed in on the line at various points.

“Wow,” he said. “I mean, wow, that is all I can say. They were incredible. Their line was doing so well that you had to roll with that.”

The Wildcats (10-8 overall, 6-4 CCHA) were able to even things on a power play of their own at the eight-minute mark of the middle frame. David Keefer crashed the net, running into Huskies senior defenseman Ryan O’Connell and knocking him into senior goaltender Blake Pietila.

Upon review, the goal counted, as it was ruled that MTU co-captain Arvid Caderoth bumped into Keefer, who then bumped into O’Connell, so there was no goaltender interference on the play.

Despite giving up that goal, the Huskies outshot the Wildcats 19-6 in the frame and did what they could to keep the pressure on all over the ice.

Pietila made 25 saves to earn the win. Halasz stopped 44 of 47 Huskies shots.