BIG RAPIDS, Mich. - Lake Superior State fell 3-0 on the road at Ferris State Friday evening in Western Collegiate Hockey Association play. The victory for the Bulldogs (4-9-1, 3-5-1) was their first at home inside Ewigleben Ice Arena in 2016-17.
The loss for the Lakers (6-5-0, 4-5-0 WCHA) marks their fourth consecutive loss and the fifth loss in their last six contests after starting the season 5-0-0.
FSU opened the scoring in the contest with Gerald Mayhew's eighth goal of the season, set up by Craig Pefley's centering pass from behind the goal. Defenseman Zac Tierney, who was in on the fore-check in the play, also earned an assist on the Mayhew tally.
LSSU led in shots 13-5 after the first period but trailed on the scoreboard 1-0.
Both sides skated through much of the second period before a pair of penalties against the visiting Lakers set up a five-on-three opportunity for FSU, which Pefley converted to put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0. Ryan Lowney and goaltender Justin Kapelmaster factored on the assists.
The Lakers again outshot the Bulldogs in the second period, 12-9, led 25-14 overall, despite trailing after 40 minutes of play.
The Lakers went scoreless in six opportunities on the power play, extending a three-game scoreless streak with the extra attacker. The power play has now failed to score on 19 consecutive opportunities and the Lakers are one-for-28 in their last five games.
Mitch Maloney capped the scoring for the Bulldogs with an empty net goal with 49 seconds remaining, assisted by Lowney.
With a perfect record against 40 shots, Kapelmaster recorded his first collegiate shutout and improved to 4-0-0 on his rookie campaign.
LSSU junior goaltender Gordon Defiel (6-4-0) turned aside 24-of-26 shots faced and made a number of acrobatic saves in his fourth loss of the season.
The Lakers and Bulldogs conclude the weekend series at 7:07 p.m. Saturday evening.