GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux and the University of Maine Black Bears each had a power-play opportunity in the final eight minutes of Friday night’s hockey game at the new Engelstad Arena. The game was tied 2-2.

North Dakota capitalized and Maine didn’t as senior defenseman Chad Mazurak’s goal with 4:56 remaining gave the Fighting Sioux a 3-2 triumph.

It was North Dakota’s first lead of the game.

North Dakota’s third consecutive win improved its record to 3-1 while Maine fell to 1-2. The two teams will play again tonight at 8:30.

With Maine defenseman Francis Nault in the penalty box for hooking, Mazurak went wide on a rush to get around a Bear defenseman and beat Maine goalie Matt Yeats with a shot from a wide angle. He had four of his seven goals on the power play a year ago.

Fighting Sioux sophomore defenseman David Hale received a five-minute major for spearing Maine defenseman and captain Peter Metcalf with 2:56 remaining. The Bears pulled Yeats with 1:44 left, giving them a six-on-four advantage.

But North Dakota did a good job in front of goalie Andy Kollar as he was tested only a couple of times during the power play.

“They did a great job bottling up the middle in the six-on-four,” said Maine interim head coach Tim Whitehead, who added that the Bears lost the services of last year’s leading goal scorer, Michael Schutte, due to a shoulder injury in the third period. That hurt the power play.

“We had to shorten our bench and our guys were tired,” said Whitehead.

North Dakota, now 3-0-1 in its last four meetings with Maine over three seasons, had to rally from a pair of one-goal deficits.

Niko Dimitrakos had staked the Bears to their first lead of the game at the 17:50 mark of the first period after converting a Metcalf pass.

It was Dimitrakos’ first goal of the season.

Freshman Brian Canady tied it up 3:35 into the second period with a backhander for his first collegiate goal.

Maine recaptured the lead while shorthanded when Marty Kariya stickhandled patiently in the UND zone and then fed freshman defenseman Matt Deschamps, who was making his debut.

Deschamps fired the puck past Kollar from the slot.

Jason Notermann knotted things up 2:06 into the third period.

North Dakota outshot Maine 32-24.

Whitehead said his team had its share of chances but couldn’t convert.

“We played extremely well for two periods, but they capitalized a couple of times in the third period. They’ve got some firepower,” said Whitehead. “Our effort was very good. We played hard and we played a pretty smart game. They just got one more than we did.”

“We’ve got to play cleaner tomorrow, by that I mean we’ve got stop turning the puck over, get the puck up the wall, and get on the defensive side of some of the scrums. That’s why we took some hooking penalties. We were out of position,” said Whitehead, who will start Mike Morrison in goal and will have defenseman Prestin Ryan in the lineup for the first time.

He said he may move Tommy Reimann back up to forward and may insert winger Cameron Lyall into the lineup.

FIGHTING SIOUX 3, BLACK BEARS 2

Maine (1-2) 1 1 0 – 2

North Dakota (3-1) 0 1 2 – 3

First period – 1. Maine, Dimitrakos 1 (Metcalf), 17:50. Penalties: UND, Schneider, interference, 1:29; UND, R. Hale, obstruction holding, 14:08

Second period – 2. UND, Canady 1 (McMahon, B. Jones), 3:35; 3. Maine, Deschamps 1 (Kariya), 9:38 (sh). Penalties: Maine, Metcalf, obstruction interference, :58; UND, Mazurak, hooking, 5:36; Maine, Loya, holding, 8:43; Maine, Deschamps, tripping, 13:32

Third period – 4. UND, Notermann 1 (R. Hale, Bochenski), 2:06; 5. UND, Mazurak 2 (Bochenski, Schneekloth), 15:04 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Heisten, roughing, 4:31; UND, Bayda, holding, 10:32; Maine, Nault, hooking, 14:18; UND, D. Hale, five-minute major for spearing, game disqualification, 17:04

Shots on goal: Maine 8-10-6-24; North Dakota 9-10-15-34

Goaltenders: Maine, Yeats (34 shots-31 saves); North Dakota, Kollar (24-22)

Power-play Opportunities: Maine 0 of 5; North Dakota 1 of 6

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 11-8-4-23; North Dakota 7-8-8-23

Attendance: 11,599