Penalty Kill And Nelson - Oh My

MOORHEAD, MINN —Concordia never trailed for the entire game, got a stellar performance from the penalty kill unit and used the outstanding goaltending of freshman Sam Nelson to beat St. Mary's 3-2 to sweep the two-game series.

The Cobbers had three different players score a goal, held the Cardinals to 1-for-9 on the power play and Nelson stopped 38 of the 40 shots he faced to help CC win for the third time in the last four games. Concordia is now 6-4 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

St. Mary's, who entered the weekend unbeaten in the MIAC, falls to 5-4-2 in all games and 4-2-0 in the league.

Jon Grebosky started the Cobber lead streak by scoring his second goal of the season at 5:38 of the first period on the team's second shot of the game. Zach Doerring earned the assist on the play.

St. Mary's tied the game with 6:16 left in the opening period and the teams skated to the break tied at 1-1. The Cardinals outshot Concordia 11-9 in the first 20 minutes of play.

The Cobbers scored in the first minute of the second period and scored the game-winning goal with under three minutes to play in the frame. Sandwiched in between the CC two scores was the second goal from St. Mary's.

Jeremy Johnson scored his first goal of the season at the 38-second mark with Mario Bianchi recording the assist. SMU tied the game with their only power play goal at the 3:31 mark.

Bryan Kronberger won the game with his first goal of the season at 17:03. Grebosky picked up his second point of the game and freshman defenseman Eddie Eades earned the second assist on the play.

The Cobbers then turned the game over to Nelson who stopped 15 shots in the second period and then stymied the Cardinal offense in the third period by making 13 saves. 

The Concordia penalty kill team killed off one penalty that carried over to the third period and then blanked St. Mary's on their three man-advantage situations in the final frame.

The Cardinals outshot the Cobbers 13-3 in the final 20 minutes of play as CC was content to keep SMU locked up in the neutral zone and con tent to take shots from the outside.

St. Mary's outshot Concordia 40-25 for the game. Grebosky had a game-high seven shots on goal.

Concordia only had two power play attempts in the game and was held off the board on both occasions.

SHOT TOTALS, SCHMOTT TOTALS: Concordia has been outshot in all 10 games this season but has six wins on the year. The Cobbers were outshot by a combined margin of 112-74 against St. Mary's this season but won all three games the teams played.

FULL NELSON: Sam Nelson has now won three straight games and is now 4-2 on the year. He has only allowed more than three goals in a game on two occasions and his 92.8% save percentage is fourth best in the MIAC. Nelson is also fifth in winning percentage and seventh in goals against average.                      

SHUT DOWN THIRD PERIOD: Concordia hasn't allowed a goal in the third period in four straight games and has only allowed one goal in the third period in the last five games. Overall the Cobbers have allowed seven goals in the final frame which is second best in the MIAC.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will have one more game before the Christmas break. The Cobbers will host Wis.-Stout on Friday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. The game will be the first of three at home against WIAC opponents for the Cobbers. CC will start the 2017 calendar year by hosting Wis.-Superior and Wis.-River Falls. Stout is 5-5-0 on the year and is coming off a 5-3 win over Superior on Friday.