Warriors 3, St. Cloud 3 OT
The key: St. Cloud scored three unanswered goals in regulation to send the game into overtime
Conference: Brd 7-0-2, SC 8-2-2
Overall: Brd 13-8-2, SC 11-7-2
Next: River Lakes at Brainerd 7:15 p.m. Thursday.
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It was a tie the Brainerd Warriors shouldn't have settled for, but one St. Cloud will gladly accept.
Brainerd scored the game's first three goals on power plays, but surrendered three unanswered to St. Cloud as the Central Lakes Conference game at Essentia Health Sports Center ended in a 3-3 tie Tuesday.
The Warriors were outshot 28-19, including 9-3 in the first and 10-3 in the third. Brainerd did outshoot St. Cloud 5-2 in the 8-minute extra session.
In overtime, Brainerd goalie James Engen made two clutch saves, denying Keaton Skaja with 4:50 left and deflecting Nick Portz's shot with the knob of his stick with 18.6 seconds to go. Brainerd forward Nick Karsnia dropped to the ice to block a key shot with 2:54 left in overtime.
Matt Fischer, who finished with three points, had a few quality chances stymied by St. Cloud goalie Soren Falloon.
Engen finished with 25 saves and Falloon with 16.
Fischer, Jack Evans and Mason Kruse staked the Warriors to a 3-0 edge in the game's first 23 minutes.
After 6-plus scoreless minutes, Brainerd was the beneficiary of a 5-minute power play for checking from behind. Fischer capitalized late in the advantage as he cycled around swiftly and from about 25 feet snapped a shot past Falloon.
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Other than that, the Warriors' offense got off to a sluggish start, getting outshot 9-3 in the first. Following a turnover about six minutes in, St. Cloud hit the post and the crossbar on the same shift. On a St. Cloud power play in the first, Lars Olson's shot from the point slid through and behind Engen but somehow didn't cross the goal line.
While the Warriors were on their 5-minute edge, St. Cloud's Keaton Skaja collected the puck near center ice, dashed in and cracked a shot off the knob of Engen's stick.
Power-play goals in the second by Evans and Kruse put Brainerd ahead by three.
Evans slapped in a rebound of a Gavin Andres shot at 5:23 following a nifty pass from Fischer. Less than a minute later, Kruse buried a back-door pass from Evans into an open side of the net.
St. Cloud began its comeback at 8:27 of the second when Carter Rieland tallied on a power play from a sharp angle. With three seconds left in the second, Portz streaked in on an odd-man rush and rifled a wrist shot past Engen and it was 3-2.
In the third, Noah Bissett tied it 3-3 when he jammed the puck through a crowd in front of Engen. In the final minute of regulation, Fischer was stopped twice on quality chances.
Brainerd, which entered the night leading the CLC with 10.5 points followed by St. Cloud with 9.5, plays its final home game Thursday against River Lakes. The Warriors end the regular season Friday at Class 1A's top-ranked Hermantown.
St. Cloud 0 2 1 0-3
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Brainerd 1 2 0 0-3
First period: B-Matt Fischer ppg 14:34
Second period: B-Jack Evans (Gavin Andres, Fischer) ppg 5:23; B-Mason Kruse (Evans, Fischer) ppg 6:18; SC-Carter Rieland (Brad Amundson) ppg 8:27; SC-Nick Portz (Tyler Streitz, Keaton Skaja) 16:57
Third period: SC-Noah Bissett (Streitz, Casey Horman)
Shots on goal: Brd 3-8-3-5--19, SC 9-7-10-2--28
Goalies: Brd-James Engen (25 saves); SC-Soren Falloon (16 saves).
