Tourney No. 4 seed Minnesota State-Mankato pulled off 2-1 and 6-1 victories over the No. 5 seed Wildcats as NMU scored more than one goal just once in its final five games this season.

The anemic offense in the latest series came despite Northern averaging 30 shots on goal in Mankato, but Mavericks goalie Alex Tracy was up to the task, making 32 saves on Friday night and 26 more on Saturday.

NMU finishes the season with 12-16-6 overall and 10-10-4 CCHA records after the Wildcats bumped up two spots to fifth in the final weekend of the regular season after pulling off their lone six-point “clean” sweep of the season at home vs. Bowling Green State.

This marked the fourth straight season Northern’s season ended in Mankato, which includes a 2020-21 WCHA Finals loss there to Lake Superior State that was played in Mankato due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Northern Michigan University’s Artem Shlaine, front, skates toward the Wildcats’ bench to celebrate his goal that put their team up 2-1 during a CCHA game played against Bemidji State on Feb. 10 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Three of the top four seeds advanced with home sweeps over the weekend, including No. 3 Michigan Tech with 5-0 and 6-5 wins over No. 6 Bowling Green and No. 1 Bemidji State with 5-4 overtime and 4-0 victories over No. 8 Ferris State.

The other first-round series between No. 2 St. Thomas and No. 7 Lake Superior State went to a third game on Sunday night after the Lakers won the opener 4-1 and Tommies tied it with a 4-2 win on Saturday. Their result came in too late to make the Journal’s press time.

Bemidji will host either Mankato or LSSU in a single-game semifinal on Saturday night, with the other semi pitting MTU either hosting Mankato or the Huskies playing at St. Thomas.

Here are details from the Wildcats-Mavericks series:

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Mankato 2, NMU 1

On Friday night, despite the Wildcats putting 22 shots on goal against Tracy in the opening two periods, including 15 in the second, NMU couldn’t get on the scoreboard until early in the third.

With 15:43 remaining, Northern’s Rylan Van Unen scored off a nice feed from Jack Perbix when the latter streaked up the right-side boards on Tracy, according to a game account from NMU Sports Information. Perbix faked a shot and carried it behind the net for a possible wraparound, instead passing to a wide-open Van Unen at the far post.

It was Van Unen’s fourth goal of the season and second in four games, while Perbix got his fourth point that includes two against Minnesota State (18-14-4). The second assist went to Van Unen’s brother Michael Van Unen, which was also his fourth point this season.

The game was scoreless until the final three minutes of the first period despite good scoring chances for both sides up to then.

With 2:40 left before the first intermission, a mad scramble in front of Wildcats goalie Beni Halasz resulted in him making a sprawling save as a Northern defender tried to fire the puck away, according to NMU SI. Instead, the puck landed on the stick of the Mavericks’ Jordan Power, who fired a seeing-eye shot through traffic.

Northern dominated the second period with a 15-2 edge in shots that included a handful of grade-A chances, according to NMU SI. Wildcats’ coach Grant Potulny even called for a review on a hand covering up the puck in the Mankato crease that was denied.

Mankato instead got that period’s only goal, again late with 3:01 to go when NMU’s Viking Gustafsson Nyberg blocked a shot with the deflection landing on the stick of the Mavs’ Sam Morton before he passed it to Lucas Sowder for a wide-open shot from the slot.

Halasz finished with 19 saves, including stopping a penalty shot midway through the second period taken by Mankato’s Luc Wilson, as NMU’s Grant Slukynsky and Reilly Funk each won 10 draws for a combined 20 of 35 faceoff wins.

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Mankato 6, NMU 1

On Saturday night, the Wildcats got on the board first, less than five minutes into the game, but couldn’t muster any more offense despite holding a 27-23 shots advantage for the night.

Halasz made 17 saves while Tracy had 26, including a dozen in the middle period.

Despite the lopsided final score, Northern was still in the game right into the final period, cutting its deficit to 3-2 before an official review waved off their second goal for offsides.

Then just seconds after play resumed, Mavericks’ captain Sam Morton pickpocketed an unsuspecting Wildcats defenseman and walked in on a breakaway and beat Halasz over his glove hand from the hash marks to make it 4-1, according to NMU SI.

Northern’s opening goal came with 4:08 gone in the game when Wildcats captain Andre Ghantous stole a Mavs’ pass with the Wildcats shorthanded, making a slick move to the backhand and sliding the puck past Tracy on a breakaway unassisted.

It was Ghantous’ ninth goal of the season and NMU’s fourth shorthanded goal as Ghantous skated in his 170th career game, tying Joe Nardi for the most games played in Wildcats’ history. Teammate Michael Van Unen was also in his 150th contest on this night.

Mankato tied the game well before the opening period ended. With 7:45 left, Brian Carrabes stole the puck in the corner and walked in on Halasz to stuff the puck home.

Then the Mavericks had the go-ahead goal waved off early in the second on another offsides review, but Morton was there to capitalize seconds after play restarted on a Wildcats’ turnover at their blue line, firing an initial shot through a defender’s legs before he snuck in the rebound on the backhand.

It became 3-1 with 4:32 left in the second when Wilson stole a pass on the right halfway and streaked into the slot to fire a wrister past the stick of Halasz, according to NMU SI.

Mankato would tally three goals in the third, the second one an empty-netter with 1:42 left before Carrabes netted his second of the night with 25 seconds remaining on a deflection.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.