Cullen Maksimowski, LSSULakers.com

MARQUETTE, Mich.— After dropping Friday's series opener, 3-2, The Lake Superior State hockey team suffered a similar fate in Saturday's finale as it fell to Northern Michigan, 3-2, in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association tilt inside the Berry Events Center.

With the loss, the Lakers fall to 6-18-4 overall and 4-13-3 in the league. NMU improves to 15-10-3, 13-5-2.

LSSU got on the board first when sophomore forward Max Humitz scored his 11th goal of the season on an assist from Diego Cuglietta just 1:14 into the first period of play.

NMU drew even when Phillip Beaulieu scored at the 4:43 mark in the first. Troy Loggins put the Wildcats in front in the opening seconds of the second period.

Brayden Gelsinger retied the game 4:52 into the second period on assists from Tyler Anderson and Cuglietta.

Northern Michigan pulled in front for good when Beaulieu scored his second goals of the game at the 8:19 mark in the third period.

"We played hard, there is no question about it," said Lake Superior coach Damon Whitten. "I liked the way we competed, showed up and battled and sacrificed.

"We come up a little bit short again tonight but we have to learn from it and move forward with another good team coming in next weekend."

Junior netminder Nick Kossoff drew his second-consecutive start night in between the pipes for LSSU and made 23 saves on 26 shots faced.

For the game, Lake Superior was outshot by Northern Michigan, 26-19, in the loss and were 0-of-4 on power play opportunities. NMU was 1-of-4 with the man advantage.

The Lakers are back inside Taffy Abel Arena for their final home series of the year nest weekend (Jan.26-27) as they take on Bowling Green.

Tickets are available at the Norris Center Ticket Office or online at lssulakers.com/tickets.