APPLETON, Wis. — Nick Felan’s third-period goal and the superb goaltending of Mattias Soderqvist lifted Lawrence University to a 2-1 Northern Collegiate Hockey Association victory over MSOE on Saturday at the Appleton Family Ice Center.
Felan scored 3:34 into the third period to give the Vikings the 2-1 advantage and Soderqvist made it stand up. Soderqvist made 17 saves in the third period on his way to a season-best 46 saves for the game.
The win moves Lawrence (7-12-2, 6-8-2 NCHA) to within one point of MSOE (12-8-1, 7-8-1) for the final playoff spot in the NCHA’s North Division.
The Vikings grabbed a 1-0 lead on Matt Moore’s power-play goal with 7:23 left in the second period off assists from Brandon Boelter and Ryan Rumble. It was the second power-play of the weekend for the Vikings, and MSOE entered play this weekend having allowed just seven power-play goals on the season.
Lawrence finished 1-for-6 on the power play, and the Raiders were 0-for-5.
The Raiders tied the game on Chris Hinrichs’ goal with 4:58 left in the second period.
Felan put the Vikings ahead for good when he took the pass from Renato Engler and beat MSOE goaltender Nick Kohn with 16:26 left. Lane King also picked up an assist on that goal for the Vikings.
The Raiders pulled Kohn for the final 51 seconds but managed just one shot on goal during the final minute.
Kohn finished with 29 saves for the Raiders.